tihtaxy of trhe trheolojical ^emmarjp PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •a^D' PRESENTED BY Delavan L. Pierson BV 3202 .J4 A3 1910 v. 2 c.2 J essup, Henry Harris, 1832-1910. Fifty-three years in Syria Fifty-Three Years in Syria HENRY H. JESSUP Taken when Moderator of the General Assembly. ^0gi * i-m^j ^j" .££^ ''^ 1951 Fifty-Three Years In Syria By HENRY HARRIS JESSUP, D.D. Introduction by James S. Dermis, D. D. IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME II New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Re veil Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 1910, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street Contents SECOND VOLUME XIX. Notable Visitors and Converts XX. A Cholera Year . XXI. Helps and Hindrances . XXII. Mission Schools XXIII. Sketches (1887) XXIV. Three Years of Progress (1888) XXV. Marking Time XXVI. A New Century Dawns (1899-1900) XXVII. The Whitening Fields (1901-1902) XXVIII. My Latest Furlough — Years 1903-1904 XXIX. Jubilee Times (1905-1907) XXX. What Shall the Harvest Be ? — January 1908-MAY 1909 . Appendices : I. Missionaries in Syria Mission from 18 19 to II. The History — Bibliography III. American Medical Missionaries and Agencies in Syria Mission ..... IV. List of Mission Schools of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in Beirut and Damascus, and in the Mutserfiyet of Lebanon ...... V. Outline of the History of the Syria Mission of the American Presbyterian Church and Contemporary Events, 18 20- 1900 . VI. "Figures," 1908-1909 — Statistics of the Syria Mission ..... VII. Statistics of the Syrian Protestant College from 1 866 to 1 906 .... Index ....... 405 467 508 526 533 572 664 695 719 753 781 797 801 802 805 809 814 819 821 Illustrations SECOND VOLUME Dr. Jessup ....... College Hall, Syrian Protestant College Mission Group ...... A View of Lebanon ...... A View in the Lebanon ..... Hasroun, A Lebanon Village .... Geo. E. Post Science Hall, Syrian Protestant College Assembly Hall, Syrian Protestant College Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. Sarcophagus of Weeping Women Front View of Gerard Institute, Sidon . Dar es Salaam Orphanage. Gerard Institute Pupils Asfuriyeh Hospital. General View Pietro's Hotel, 1875 . Jedaan the Bedawy Kamil Aietany . Syrian Mission in 1893 with Drs. Gorge of Nahr Barada American Press . The Damascus to Mecca Railway Beirut Memorial Column Daniel Bliss Hall Mission Stations The Seventieth Birthday Picnic. Yusef Ahtiyeh, Kasim Beg Amin Dr. Daniel Bliss in 1905 Syrian Churches and Houses Group of Syrian Teachers and Preachers Interior of the Chapel of the Protestant College, Beirut Group of Syrian Churches ..... Plan of the American Mission Property . Bliss and Post Ancient Mule Bridge Facing page Title 412 429 440 456 465 480 490 507 516 521 530 541 559 570 585 590 601 618 630 680 690 700 711 720 730 737 749 781 XIX Notable Visitors and Converts The one-eyed kadi — Mr. Roosevelt — Two great sheikhs — The new bell — Wm. E. Dodge — Abu Selim and Moosa Ata — The monthly con- cert at home. AT the close of 1873 the stations were manned as follows : Beirut, Drs. Thomson, Van Dyck, Dennis, and H. H. Jessup. Abeih, Messrs. Calhoun and Bird. Sidon, Messrs. W. W. Eddy and Pond. Tripoli, Messrs. S. Jessup and Hardin, and Dr. Danforth. Zahleh, Messrs. Dale, Wood, and March. The theological seminary was opened in Beirut in premises adjoining Dr. Dennis's house, the teachers being Dr. Dennis, Dr. C. V. A. Van Dyck, Dr. Wm. M. Thomson, and my- self. The Syrian Protestant College at this time had eighty-four students in all its departments and all its friends were much en- couraged. They Httle thought that in 1907 the number would be 878. In September the notable meeting of the International Evan- gelical Alliance, postponed from 1870 on account of the Franco- Prussian War, was held in New York. My paper on " Missions to the Oriental Churches " was read in my absence by my dear friend, Rev. D, Stuart Dodge, It was subsequently the basis of a booklet on "The Greek Church and Protestant Missions," written at the request of the Christian Literature Society of New York 405 4o6 Notable Visitors and Converts and a special edition of which was published in England by ray friends, Canon H. B. Tristram and Rev. H. E. Fox, and sent to hundreds of clergymen of the Church of England. The object of this act of Canon, Tristramswas to counteract the efforts of the High Church Anglican Clergy to fraternize with the Greek Church ecclesiastics, ignoring the anti-scriptural teachings of the Greek Church. A reformation of the Greek Church is possible, but not very probable. With education and the Bible the people some day will demand the abolition of Mariolatry and ikon wor- ship. Early in March Dr. Van Dyck, manager of the press, was sent for by Kamil Pasha, the governor, to come to the seraia, as he was about to shut up the press for a violation of the press laws. Dr. Van Dyck proceeded to the seraia and asked the pasha what he meant. The pasha, holding up a little tract, said, " Was this printed at your press ? " "Yes." "Then it must be confiscated, as it contains an attack on the Turkish government." Dr. Van Dyck asked, "^Wherein does it attack the government ? " The pasha pointed out several passages which criticized the bribery and corruption everywhere prevalent, perjury and lying among witnesses and public officials ; and the fact that " truth had fallen in the streets and equity could not enter." Dr. Van Dyck re- plied, " Are not these statements true ? Your Excellency ought to put a copy into the hands of every government official in your pashahc. Is it not so ? " asked the doctor. " Yes," said the pasha, " but we don't like to be so constantly reminded of it. Have you never heard the story of the Kadi el Ah-war ? " (/. e.^ the one-eyed judge). " And what is that ? " asked the doctor, " Well, once there was a famous one-eyed kadi. One day a man came into the court and addressed him as follows : ' Good- morning, oh, one-eyed kadi ! May your day be blessed, oh, one- eyed kadi. I have heard of the noble character and justice of the one-eyed kadi, and I would ask the distinguished and revered one-eyed kadi to do me justice,' and, ' Stop,' said the kadi, ' sup- posing I am one-eyed, do I want to be everlastingly reminded of . it ? Get out of my sight,' Roosevelt and the Donkey 407 " And so," said the pasha, " we know that these reflections on our country and our courts are true, but we don't want to be pubhcly reminded of them. Who wrote that tract?" The doctor explained that it was a prize tract on veracity and the prize was won by Rev. Sarafim Potaji of Shefa-Amr near Nazareth. But the pasha insisted that it be destroyed. The doctor withdrew and the case was taken up by the British consulate, as the tracts belonged to the London Tract Society. Then the pasha insisted that the consul seal them up in a box and send them out of Syria. The consul sent a dragoman and sealed the box and left it at the press. Dr. Van Dyck sent and asked the consul to remove the box. He did not do it. Then the doctor gave him a week's notice that if it were not taken away in that time the press would not be responsible for its safe- keeping. The British consul never sent for it and it disappeared, being scattered throughout the land. The prohibition by the Sultan of all criticism in the newspaper press is one great cause of the universal official corruption in the empire. Bribery exists in civilized lands, but is kept at a minimum through fear of exposure in the press. Here there i^ no such fear, and it is at a maximum. f On Saturday, March 22d, I called at the hotel on Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., of New York, and the next day he spoke to our Arabic Sunday-school on his work among the newsboys of New York. His son Theodore was with him and was a boon companion of Frederick and Howard Bliss, sons of Dr. Daniel Bliss. The three boys rode together on one donkey, the property of Mrs. Bliss. One of those boys is now President of the United States, while another is president of the Syrian Protestant College, and, as a witty Arab remarked on hearing this reminiscence, " The donkey is now the Waly of ." Mr. Roosevelt gave ;^500 to the college in Beirut. His visit was memorable and an inspiration to young and old. In February, 1 871, we were favoured with a visit from a cele- brated Arab sheikh, the noted Sheikh Mohammed Smeir Ibn ed Dukhy, the emir of the Anazeh tribe, who can command ten 4o8 Notable Visitors and Converts thousand horsemen and who receives 280,000 piastres annually from the Turkish government to keep the Bedawin in order. He had just sent off a detachment of his tribe with the great Mohammedan caravan of pilgrims from Damascus to Mecca and was sent for by Rashid Pasha, Waly of Syria, to come to meet him in Beirut. While here, he was the guest of a friend of ours and we invited him to call. He came on Thursday, February 2d, at 2 p. M., first calling at my house and then at the female seminary. He looked through the institution and after examin- ing the appearance of the pupils, turned to them and said, " Our Bedawin girls would learn as much in six months as you learn in two years." I told him we would like to see the experiment tried. He said, " Perhaps it may be some day." Our friend had informed us that although the sheikh could not read, one of his wives could both read and write well, being the daughter of a sheikh near Hamath, so we had prepared an elegant copy of the Arabic Bible bound in green and gilt with a waterproof case to prevent injury on his long return journey of twelve days into the desert, and when we reached the press it was presented to him. He received it with the greatest respect and asked what he would find in it. We told him it was the complete •' Tourah " and " Ingeel " (Old and New Testaments) and he said it would be profitable to read about Ibrahim the friend of God, and Ishmael the father of the Arabs, and Moosa (Moses) and Soleyman the king and Aieesa or Jesus the son of Mary. The electrotype apparatus deeply interested him but when Mr. Hallock showed him the steam cylinder press rolling off the printed sheets with so great rapidity and exactness, he stood back and remarked in the most deliberate manner, " The man who made that press can conquer everything but death." It seemed some satisfaction to him that in the matter of death the Bedawy was on a level with the European.^ From the press the sheikh went to the church and after gazing ' Mr. Waldmeier, who was formerly in Abyssinia and is now in Beirut, informs me that one of the Abyssinian princes once made a precisely similar remark when looking at a piece of European machinery. Nasif el Yazigy 409 around on the pure white walls, remarked, " There is the Book, but there are no pictures. You worship only God here." He was anxious to see the tower clock, and although he has lost one arm and had the other nearly paralyzed by a musket shot in the desert wars, he said he would climb up the long ladder to see that clock, whose striking he had heard at the other end of the city. So up he went and it would have done the maker, Mr. Hotchkiss of Cortlandt Street, New York, great good to see this son of the desert gazing admiringly upon that beautiful piece of mechanism. We helped him down the ladder, greatly to his relief, and then he went to the college where he heard Dr. Van Dyck deliver a lecture on chemistry, and the doctor performed several brilliant experiments for his benefit. Dr. Bliss showed him the large electrical machine and he took several severe shocks in hopes of deriving benefit to his left arm. The botanical collection, the library of Arabic books, the cabinets of minerals and fossils, and the anatomical museum all interested him and he finally left us expressing his gratitude for what he had been permitted to see, and especially for the Book. He left by diligence stage early the next morning for Damascus and was soon in the desert again as another tribe had revolted and he hastened to quell the revolt. On Wednesday, February 8, 1871, one of the notable char- acters of Syria died in Beirut, Sheikh Nasif el Yazigy was the greatest living Arabic poet, author of fourteen different works in Arabic, and formerly for years the companion and assistant of Dr. Eli Smith in the translation of the Bible into Arabic. He died aged seventy-one years. He had been partially paralyzed for two years past but never forgot Dr. Eli Smith. He often said to me, " When Dr. Smith was on his death-bed he preached to me a sermon which I have not forgotten and never can forget. No, sir, I cannot forget it. Dr. Smith was a man of God." An immense crowd followed the sheikh to his grave, among them nearly 800 pupils from the schools and seminaries of Beirut, a noble tribute to his great learning. Such a sight had not been seen in Beirut since the days of Justinian. 41 o Notable Visitors and Converts On Sunday, February 12th, the little stone church in Kefr Shima, six miles from Beirut, was dedicated, with more of state and formality than had been known by any Protestant church in Syria. Among those present were H. E. Franco Pasha, Governor of Lebanon, Mr. Johnson, American consul-general, Mr. El- dridge, H. B. M. consul-general, Mr. T. Weber, German consul- general. Dr. Daniel Bliss, president of the Syrian Protestant College, Dr. Thomson, several of the Prussian deaconesses who had pupils in the village and a great crowd of Syrian villagers. I preached the Arabic dedication sermon. Five years later I preached the same sermon at the dedication of the churches in Judaideh and Zahleh. At the latter place the kaimakam (a Papal Greek) was present, and a fortnight later sent a formal complaint to Rustam Pasha that I had taken advantage of the presence of Roman Catholic officials to attack the Holy Catholic Church. The pasha sent the complaint to the British consul, to whom I sent a copy of the sermon reminding him that it was the same one I delivered before Franco Pasha and himself and others in 1 87 1. I heard no further complaint. It was afterwards proved that the complaint was instigated by the Jesuit priests of Zahleh.i On Saturday morning, April 15, 1871, the American bark Marguerita Blanca came into port bringing the new church bell. The captain said that he had a tempestuous voyage across the Atlantic and for three days gave up all hope of deliverance. The bulwarks of the vessel were carried away, 10,000 feet of lumber on the deck were swept overboard, the kitchen and water casks were swept away, and the bell was about the only thing that remained. The fixtures were in the cabin and although the sea ^ In January, 1878, Mr. James Black, a noble specimen of the British Christian merchant, whose word was sworn by both by Moslems and Chris- tians, and who had taught the Syrians a lasting lesson in business integrity, erected at his own expense a bell tower on the Kefr Shima church, which stands to-day a monument of his liberality and true Chris- tian zeal. His self denying labours in the erection of the Beirut church are commemorated in a beautiful white baptismal font erected after his death by the congregation. The American Bell — Dr. Clark's Visit 411 broke in and deluged the cabin, nothing Avas damaged. The only effect that we could observe was that the yoke of the bell (which was evidently meant to be a revolving yoke so as to change the place of the stroke of the tongue) was so firmly welded on to the bell by rust that we found it impossible to remove it when elevating the bell into the tower. We were thankful how- ever that it was not lost during that Atlantic hurricane. Ten porters brought it up from the custom-house swung be- tween two oak poles, and a fine set of tackle blocks from the American bark enabled Mr. Hallock, our efficient press agent and electrotypist, to hoist it into place with comparative ease. It is the largest bell in Syria and its clear sweet tones can be heard to the very suburbs of this widely scattered city. We were honoured in 1 871 by a visit from Rev. N. G. Clark, secretary of the American Board, and Rev. George W. Wood, D. D., who after labouring as a missionary in Singapore and Con- stantinople and then as district secretary of the Board in New York was returning to Constantinople to renew the work he so much loved. Dr. Clark's visit was especially gratifying. We had separated from the American Board, but not from the love and confidence of this beloved man with whom we had corresponded for years. He had often intimated that we should not erect ex- pensive buildings on mission ground, and he had many misgivings when we were building the girls' school, the church, the Bible depository and press. But on this visit he expressed his gratifi- cation with all he saw in Beirut. He said, " Brethren, you are right. These buildings are a credit to your taste and judgment. Protestantism looks as if it had come to Syria to stay and not merely to pitch a tent and then decamp. There should be sub- stantial buildings of a superior character in our chief centres of labour and influence." He was delighted with the large plot of ground owned by the college at Ras Beirut and gave the mission much credit for wisdom and broad views, as might be expected from a man of such large experience and wide observation as he is. The purchase of that college site is universally regarded as one of the master-strokes of Dr. Daniel Bliss, and it is to this 412 Notable Visitors and Converts day (1908) still looked upon as the finest college site in the East.i In December, 1871, we were favoured with a visit from the Hon. Wm. E. Dodge and Mrs. Dodge. Their presence was a benediction. They showed interest in every detail of all depart- ments of our work, and his laying the corner-stone of College Hall of the Syrian Protestant College, December 7th, was an oc- casion long to be remembered. An immense crowd assembled and Mr. Dodge made a brief but eloquent address. His son Stuart, after accompanying his parents to Egypt, returned here and laboured for many months with Dr. Bliss during the prog- ress of the new edifice. The use of iron beams and flat stone arches between the girders, for the first time in Syria, awakened great interest. The building, finally completed in 1872, is a monument to their patient and faithful attention to all the details of the architect's plans. The same may be said of all those who superintended the construction of all the buildings on the college campus. The names of Hon. Wm. E. Dodge and Dr. D. Stuart Dodge will be forever linked with the history and success of the Syrian Protestant College. The closing months of 1871 were full of hope and cheer. The congregations in Beirut were crowded and the Sunday-school flourishing, the church-members active and willing to work, and some twenty young people asking admission to the church. Rev. Samuel Jessup had returned from Scotland to Tripoli and been joined by Rev. O. J. Hardin and Galen B. Danforth, M. D., who had married Miss Emily Calhoun of Abeih. Rev. and Mrs. Frank Wood had arrived in November and were stationed in Sidon. Dr. Danforth opened a clinic in Tripoli which was thronged, and the faithful Moslem friend, Saleh Sabony, was con- stant in his attendance, aiding the doctor for three and one-half years till his death, July, 1875, and keeping the crowded throng of patients in order. ^ Dr. Bliss states that John Jay Phelps, father-in-law of Rev. D. Stuart Dodge, was the first person to insist on the purchase of the Ras Beirut property. The Druse Cataclysm Indefinitely Postponed 413 At this time I conducted the Sunday-school of 300 scholars preached in Arabic twice every Sunday, Monday evening held a neighbourhood prayer-meeting, Wednesday a class of catechu- mens, Wednesday evening a Bible class of eighty young men, Friday morning short services at three boarding-schools, and Saturday evening a teachers' meeting of thirty young men and women. This year, 1872, is said to be the year for the final crisis or cataclysm of the Druse religion. Their prophet. El Hakem, who claimed to be an incarnation of the deity, and is worshipped by them, promised when he died, 102 1 a. d., to return again with an immense army from China, overthrow Islam, and subject the earth to his sway. This year, according to certain Druse author- ities, is the year for the return of El Hakem, but the educated and thinking men among them have the sense to know, firstly, that there are no Druses in China, and secondly, that if there were, there would be no prospect of their getting to Syria without such a conquest as the world has never seen. Despairing of this, some of them, though not many as yet, are asking what is to be done. If El Hakem does not appear in 1872 the Druse religion is false, and we must cast about for another. One of their leading men said a few days ago, " If the crisis comes some of us will turn Moslems and some Protestants. God only knows ; God knows all things." We have had one extraordinary Protestant on the docket in Beirut but now he has returned Hke the sow that was washed, etc. He was asked for an extra donation in the Maronite church and was so enraged that he turned Protestant. He re- mained Protestant two months, and had several prayer-meetings at his house. He acknowledged to me that he had committed not less than twenty murders. He sleeps with several loaded pistols under his pillow, and one day threatened to kill his wife. He presented the loaded double-barrelled pistol to his own breast in the presence of two of the brethren, exclaiming, " Bear me witness, that I die a Protestant and give three-fourths of my money to the Protestant Church and one-fourth to my wife." They snatched the pistol and brought it to me ; I declined to 414 Notable Visitors and Converts harbour it. He afterwards calmed down and came with his wife to call on me. We laboured with him faithfully, but when he heard that we had collections in the Protestant Church, he went back to the Jesuits. It is one of the marvels of this Eastern land that so many men of that kind go unhung. This hopeful char- acter murdered his first wife and may at any day despatch his present one. It was a relief to us all when he ceased entangling the Protestant community with his iniquities. Crimes and sin have hardened his nature and though he has amassed great wealth by his crimes as a highwayman and villain, he will not loose his grip on a cent without a struggle. How different this man from Abu Selim, the blind Damascene, who has lately united with the church, a man once steeped in iniquity, but now a gentle and loving disciple of Jesus. Kind, affectionate, prayerful, zealous, going about the streets led by a little boy, preaching the Gospel early and late, bringing strangers to the church and the prayer-meeting, and thinking only of one great theme, salvation through Christ, who sought him when a stranger, and sent blindness of natural vision five years ago, in order that his spiritual eyes may be opened ! He said the other night at a prayer-meeting, " Would that He had sent this blind- ness twenty years ago before I had spent so much of my life in sin. Praise to His name for not leaving me now." On April 5th, Antioch was destroyed by earthquake. The shock continued for several days. Sixteen hundred were killed, 1 ,000 wounded. The Turkish governor, Ahmed Beg, was a marvel of efficiency and humanity. More than 15,000 people were with- out food or shelter. Help poured in from Alexandretta, Aleppo, Beirut, Damascus, and Constantinople. Theraia Pasha, Waly of Aleppo, sent lOO tents and soldiers to guard the city and prevent plunder. The stench from bodies buried under the ruins became intolerable. A series of shocks continued for ten days. Suadiyeh on the coast, Bitias, and scores of villages were in ruins and hundreds perished. The house of Mr. Powers, the American missionary, was not injured, though surrounded by ruins. He raised ;^8oo in Alexandretta to aid the sufferers. Caravans with The Earthquake at Antioch 41^ provisions, bread, flour, rice, and butter came daily from Aleppo, and were distributed by the Aleppo committee. Sheikh Beha ed Din Effendi Rufaiee, Mustafa Agha, Siyas Effendi, Rizkullah Effendi Bulleet. The commercial council of Aleppo sent ;$3,200 in cash. Edward Van Dyck, United States vice-consul in Beirut, Rev, O. J. Hardin, Dr. Galen Danforth and wife of the American Mission in Tripoli and two graduates of the medical college, went on to Antioch, April 27th, with medicines and blankets to aid in the care of the sick and wounded. The desolation and suffering were heartrending. The entire population were liv- ing in the open country, and daily shocks for three weeks added to their terror and distress. No such earthquake had occurred since the days of Justinian in 526 A. D.,when the ancient Antioch was destroyed and according to Gibbon 250,000 perished and the city thereafter was only an abject village. On April 12th the Greek priest Jebra was searching amid the ruins of the Greek Church for the silver ornaments and furniture buried under the debris when he heard a faint groan. He at once informed the government, and the Greek bishop and the en- tire body of government officials repaired to the spot with labourers who dug away the debris. The groans gradually grew louder and louder until they found two persons, the one clasping the other in her arms. They were a girl of twenty and her younger brother. As they drew them out after digging three hours they found them still alive. They had been entombed seven days. They begged for water. Dr. Franki gave them wine and water in very small quantities. They had no sign of wound or bruise on their bodies but the girl did not survive long. The boy, aged twelve, revived and recovered. Sabbath evening, April 7th, I retired about midnight, ex- hausted by the labours of the day, and was just losing myself in sleep when the door-bell rang, and the telegraph messenger brought me a telegram from Miss Wilson, the English teacher in Zahleh, stating that Moosa Ata was dying, and my presence was absolutely necessary. No reasons were given and I was seriously perplexed. The Damascus diligence would leave at 4 a. m., and 41 6 Notable Visitors and Converts this was the only v/ay of getting there unless I rode ten hours on horseback, which I was quite too weary to attempt. There was no time to consult the brethren, and such was the pressure of duties on hand in Beirut that it seemed impossible for me to leave. At last I decided to leave the question to the divine Providence. If there proved to be an empty seat in the dili- gence I would go ; otherwise not. I went down to the office at half-past three and found a seat. On reaching the house of Miss Wilson in Zahleh at noon, I found the town in a state of great excitement. Moosa had died one hour before my arrival. He was the first Protestant in Zahleh and had been a steadfast evangelical for fifteen years. The town numbers 1 2,000 souls, all Greek or Greek Catholic, and the people have been noted in years past for their insubordination to the government and their blind devotion to the priests. Years ago they boasted that the Prot- estants should never enter Zahleh, and twice have they driven out missionaries by violence. The town was sacked and burned by the Druses in i860, and the great church of Mary, the citadel of Mariolatry in Lebanon, was destroyed. It is now rebuilt, the houses being constructed of stone and sun-dried brick. It stands in a narrow valley which runs down the eastern slope of Lebanon to the plain, and is built on both sides of the river, the north and south quarters of the city rising abruptly from the river and fa- cing each other, the roof of one house often forming the court or floor of the house above. The power of the Jesuits and the native Catholic and Greek clergy was once supreme and is now enough to incite the masses to almost any act of rowdyism, un- less restrained by force or fear. A month since, the young heroes of the town, of various aristocratic families, attacked the governor and threatened to kill him. He barely escaped with his life and an army was despatched for his protection. Numer- ous arrests were made and six of the finest young men of the town were sent for six years to the penitentiary in Acre. This condign punishment has somewhat tamed down the fire of the masses or we might have had serious trouble in burying our deceased brother, Moosa Ata. Ever since he had become a Moosa Ata 417 Protestant the priests had vowed vengeance upon him, and al- though a venerable man, respected by all, and admired for his skill (he was a gunsmith, and received a reward from the Lon- don^Exposition for a curiously wrought and inlaid weapon), they resolved that when he died, he should be dragged through the streets and be denied decent burial. On Sunday, April 7th, he was very ill. The Protestant native helper, Giurgius, went to see him and was refused admittance. The Greek Catholic priests had gone a dozen strong to his house, fastened the doors, and sent out word that Moosa had recanted and returned to the papal church. His son Abdallah, who is a Protestant and a lovely young man, told the brethren that this was not true. Still none of the brethren could get access to him. At length Miss Wilson sent word to Jebran Meshaka, city judge, and, since the riot, acting governor, asking leave to visit Moosa, the Protestant. He at once sent the chief of police and two of his men to accompany her. Giurgius, the preacher, and several of the brethren went with her. The roof of Moosa's house and all the adjoining houses were covered with thousands of women and children and the roughs of the town hooting and cursing and railing at the Protestants. The chief made his way through the mob, and took the party with him into the room of the dying man. The room was crowded with the black-robed and hooded priests. Said the chief, Butrus Agha, to Giurgius, the Protestant preacher, " You may now question Moosa as to his faith." Giurgius sat down by his side and said distinctly, " My brother, are you still in the faith of the Gospel, or have you returned to the papal church ? " He replied in a clear voice, " I am a Prot- estant and die a Protestant." At the request of the agha, the question was repeated, with the same reply. Then the agha ordered the priests to leave at once. " What business have you here by the death-bed of a Protestant ? Leave him without de- lay." Moosa then asked Giurgius to read and pray with him. When Miss Wilson left, the mob began to shout and threaten the life of Giurgius. " Bring out the dog and we will kill him ! Break down the door and let us shoot him ! " etc., etc. Giurgius went to 4i8 Notable Visitors and Converts the door and told them, •' I am ready to die, but I will not leave my brother while the breath of life is in him. If you kill me I will die between his feet." The agha then drove back the crowd but they soon returned instigated by the priests. The agha stayed with Giurgius all that night and the next day until 1 1 a. m., when Moosa died. For three years the papists had been threat- ening that when Moosa died he should not be buried. As no Protestant death had ever occurred in Zahleh they gave out word that Protestants have no funeral service, no clergy, no honour for the dead, and that no Protestant dog should ever be buried in the sacred (?) soil of Zahleh. When he died they would drag him through the streets and throw his corpse into the river. The gathering of these thousands on the housetops meant mischief. As soon as Moosa's death was known, his wife and sons, and Abdallah's wife, arose and left the house, declaring that as none but street dogs would follow a Protestant to his grave they would not attend the funeral. The brethren had telegraphed to me but my coming was uncertain, and they sent for Mr. Rattrey, a Scotch gentleman living a few miles away, to come and aid them. When my arrival was known, a great change came over matters, and although I was almost faint from exhaustion, loss of sleep and riding in a burning sirocco, I forgot my weariness in the joy of the brethren at my coming. At half-past two I went over to the house with Miss Wilson and instead of finding none but street dogs, we found the entire body of Zahleh aristocracy as- sembled to condole with Abdallah and to attend the funeral. All the parties in the late riot who had taken up arms against one another were sitting side by side. Outside the building the scene beggared description. Thousands were surging against the house or on the adjacent roofs screaming, cursing, and calling us dogs and wild beasts. One woman cried out, " If they bury that dog in the sacred soil of Zahleh the earth will vomit him forth." An- other said, " They cut up their dead and burn them," " Let me see." " See the heretics." " God curse them and their preachers and their books," and volleys of similar vituperation and insult, to all of which we paid no attention whatever. Butrus Agha, the The Funeral in Zahleh 419 chief of police, charged upon them repeatedly, but the crowd rolled back again like the waves of the sea. The clamour outside and the roaring of the sirocco wind made it most difficult to speak, but I conducted a short service standing in the door be- tween the crowd inside and the mob outside. When it was ended, the body was placed in a coffin, wrapped in a white cloth, as there was not a woman in the family who would make a shroud, and the crowds of young men, seeing the chief dignitaries of the town in attendance, vied with one another in carrying the body to the chapel on the opposite side of the town. The pro- cession was immense. Five of the Protestant young men walked in advance singing in Arabic, " My Faith Looks up to Thee," and " How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds," and their loud, clear voices had a palpably soothing effect upon the tumultuous throng. On reaching the chapel (Miss Wilson's large school- room) the crowd was excessive so that they literally trod upon one another. The doors and windows and the fields outside were jammed with the curious multitude, anxious to see what we were going to do. I was getting hoarse from sheer exhaustion, but when the agha had literally cudgelled the crowd into silence at the request of some of the leading men, though against our solemn protest, it became quiet enough to speak, and I conducted a funeral service. The service was brief I had to speak with the voice of a sea-captain giving orders in a hurricane, yet the people gave good attention and some seemed to be effected by the truth. The singing was good and on leaving the chapel for the cemetery, the young men again sang as we passed through the streets, and the interment took place decently and in order. I walked by the side of Abdallah as he followed his father to his grave, and he was sad to think that not one of his family was present. I told him that it was just so with Christ in His hour of extremity. All His disciples forsook Him and fled, and He could sympathize with His bereaved and lonely children now. In the evening the brethren all called and said that though they were all sad at the death of Moosa, their patriarch and chief, yet the providence of God had made this day the gladdest and 420 Notable Visitors and Converts most auspicious in the history of the Gospel in Zahleh. Op- posers had been silenced and the enemies had heard the truth, the priests had been foiled in their lying plots, God's truth had been openly honoured, and Protestantism had been recognized by the government. Early in the day they had telegraphed to Franco Pasha, the governor of Lebanon, for authority to select a cemetery from the Government lands in the suburbs. For years they had tried to get this concession but priests and bishops had prevented. While we were assembled in the evening, a tele- gram came from the pasha ordering the judge to set apart a cemetery for the Protestants at once and without delay. So the next morning we called at the Mejlis with Miss Wilson and sev- eral of the brethren. The judge sent a high official with us and we selected an appropriate place near the cemetery of the other sects, and before one o'clock the deed was made out, signed, sealed, recorded and given to the Protestant brethren. I made various calls on the people and was everywhere courteously re- ceived, and in the house of one of the leading families a young woman whose husband is in the penitentiary asked me to read the Scriptures and offer prayer, in which request the whole com- pany joined. The effect of my visit to Zahleh in my mind was this : that it is a most important centre and should be occupied as our mission previously voted and that as speedily as possible. It is sur- rounded by important villages, is easy of access, a good climate, and could be manned by two families to-morrow were they on the ground. On Wednesday evening, April 8th, Mr, Calhoun and brother Samuel Jessup arrived from Tripoli after a tedious ride of nine- teen hours on horseback, and on Friday, April loth, at sunrise, Samuel and I embarked on the Austrian Lloyd steamer for Jaffa en route for Jerusalem. It was a trip for mental rest and recrea- tion on the part of both of us for the sake of seeing the land in which we live and the Christian labourers in Palestine, to say nothing of the sacred associations of the Holy Land. I had not been to Jerusalem in fifteen years, and he had never been either Going to Jerusalem 421 to Jerusalem or Damascus and it seemed high time for him to go. The Austrian steamer was crowded with Russian and Ar- menian pilgrims going to Jerusalem. These Russian pilgrims are the most abject and filthy creatures to be seen in the East. They must be chiefly of the lowest of the serfs. They are herded together like cattle and seem lost to all sense of decency. They lay up money for many years to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Bethany, and the Jordan, and go back fleeced and plundered by the priests and monks to spend the rest of their lives in poverty. They carry back the clothes in which they bathe in the Jordan and keep them to be buried in. How long they will keep with so much filth matted on them I cannot surmise. Their ignorance and infatuated superstitious devotion to saints' pictures, and holy places, make one ashamed of Christianity. No wonder the Mohammedans scoff" and ridicule Christianity when thus identified with the grossest idolatry, I saw two Moslem sheikhs from Shechem (Nablus) standing at a Christian shop in Jerusalem with a view to purchasing cotton cloth, when the eye of one of them fell upon a piece of carved and painted wood designed to represent the Virgin. " Do you see this ? " said he to his companion. " These are the gods of the Christians," and he turned away. I stopped him and said, " My friend, these are not the gods of true Christians. Such things are contrary to the Old and New Testaments and against the law of God and His Son Jesus Christ. They are the gods of mere nominal Christians who have forsaken God's Word and fol- lowed the traditions of men. True Christianity is a spiritual re- ligion and forbids all worship of the creature." The shopkeeper blushed, and the Moslems said " that kind of Christianity would suit us Moslems, but this idolatry never." On board our steamer were three Russian gentlemen of the higher class, tall, slender, gray-bearded men, with long black coats and flat black caps, and they paced the deck side by side with faces of the most awful solemnity, as if the responsibility of some momentous task was weighing them down. I soon learned that they were bringing two ponderous bells, one of them weigh- 422 Notable Visitors and Converts ing 6,600 pounds, as a present from Russia to the Russian con- vent in Jerusalem. The bells were on the main deck and the problem as to how they were to land them at Jaffa and transport them to Jerusalem was probably tasking their minds day and night. I have since learned that the bells were landed and that 400 of those poor Russian women who were at the convent in Jerusalem came down to Jaffa and drew the bells up to Jerusa- lem, thirty-six miles, on trucks, as a work of religious merit, thus adding to their stock of good works and increasing their chance of getting to heaven. We took breakfast at the hotel kept by our courteous vice-consul, Mr. Hardegg, in one of the houses of the defunct Adams Colony. That colony has been brought out principally by the industrious and God-fearing German sect of Hoffmanites, who are now firmly settled here and in Haifa under Mount Carmel. They are steady, honest men who tolerate no drones in their hive, and have set about their work in earnest. Their numbers in Wur- temburg are large, but they will allow no new immigrants until they have work provided in advance. The great problem in their future will be whether the Turkish government will protect them or allow them to be harassed and gradually worn out with petty annoyances until they finally break up in despair and leave. The wooden houses in Jaffa will not last long but they can be replaced with stone in due time. It is twelve hours' ride from Jaffa to Jerusalem but Mr. Hardegg gave us animals that took us up the thirty-six miles in six hours, without great effort on their part or ours. Fifteen years have made great changes in this ancient land. This road is an in- calculable blessing and a Greek lady who broke her arm in riding down to the Jordan has expended ^700 in making a fine, broad, and easy road all the way from the gates of Jerusalem to the banks of the Jordan. The Plain of Sharon was covered with waving grain, as if literally groaning under an excess of luxuriance. Amateur missionaries abound in Palestine, some of whom hold extraordinary views. We met a white-bearded patriarchal apostle. Seed Sown by the Wayside 423 Dr. Zembal, when encamped at the Fountain of Elisha at Jericho. He sat in his tent door at sunset, looking out on the mountains of Moab, now tinged with purple and gold by the rays of the setting sun. He had just returned from a journey, with no com- panions but his guards and muleteers, to Ramoth Gilead, Rabbath Ammon, and Heshbon, where Sihon, king of the Amorites, lived, and had only recrossed the Jordan because his supply of bread had failed. He said, " Do you know what I have been there for? I have been to find a place for ' the Woman ' in the wilderness. The time is at hand, rapidly approaching. A fine tract of land here in Jericho is offered for sale. It must be secured. Na- poleon must soon become King of Rome, and then the Jews will begin to return in thousands. Everything must be ready." It was really affecting to witness the tearful and intense earnestness with which the old man expressed his views. He is very aged and fears lest he may die before the Messiah actually appears. On our way to the Jordan we were escorted by Sheikh Rashid, a stalwart and dignified Arab, with whom I had a two hours' conversation on our return when riding slowly up the long ascent. It was pleasant to have an opportunity to preach the Gospel so practically to one of the sons of the desert. He listened most patiently and with apparent interest to a full exposition of the gospel plan by which God can be just and the justifier of them that believe. The idea was new to him and I trust that it will not be lost upon him. While in Jerusalem we were invited to view Mr. Shapira's unique and unparallelled collection of Moabite pottery, just brought, as he said, from Makkedah, east of the Dead Sea. It is covered with Phoenician and other antique characters, and was claimed to be of immense importance and value. A small selection of the vases, tesseras, and earthern gods, was offered for ;^ioo. German savants examined the collection and it was pur- chased for the Berlin Museum for a fabulous sum. But soon after, M. Ganneau, a French savant, let the whole Moabite cat out of the bag and proved that Shapira had manufactured the whole collection at a pottery of his own in a secluded place and hirec} ( * 424 Notable Visitors and Converts trans-Jordanic Bedawin to bring them in on camels, as if just dis- covered at Makkedah, The exposure subjected Shapira to such indignity and contempt that it was reported that he had com- mitted suicide. During this visit we met the genial and godly Bishop Gobat and had full conference with him about the basis of missionary comity established between our missions. We were told that the recent Episcopal invasion of Aintab was in spite of his protest. We received on Sabbath, May 19, 1872, to the communion of the Beirut church nine persons. One is a Damascene, a Jew of a wealthy family, who have now disowned and disinherited him. He gives good evidence of being a true disciple of Christ. In 1906 three of his children were received into the same church. The Jews in Syria are in a sad condition. There is not a more superstitious or fanatical class in the community and they are hated intensely by all the sects, but more especially by the Greeks and Latins, In the gradations of Oriental cursing, it is tolerably reasonable to call a man a donkey, somewhat severe to call him a dog, contemptuous to call him a swine, but withering to the last degree to call him a Jew. The animosity of the nominal Christian sects against the Jews is most relentless and unreasoning. They believe that the Jews kill Christian children every year at the Passover and mingle their blood with the Pass- over bread. Almost every year in the spring, this senseless charge is brought against the Jews ; senseless because blood is unclean among the Jews, but an impossibility is no obstacle to Oriental fanaticism. The Jews of Beirut and Damascus are obliged to pay heavy blackmail every year to the Greek and Latin " lewd fellows of the baser sort " who threaten to raise a mob against them for killing Christian children. Quite a number of Jewish children are gathered in the missionary schools of the Scotch and English missions in Beirut, but the chief rabbi of Damascus ordered them all removed on hearing of the recent bloody assault of the Mohammed's Long Lost Shoe 42j; Smyrna Greeks on the Jews of that city. It is one of the most practical comments on the degraded character of these Oriental so-called Christian churches, that they never lift a finger for the instruction or conversion of Jews, Moslems, or Druses, but hate them with a perfect hatred and not only in theory regard them as children of hell, but would rejoice to send them there if they could. One of the most remarkable items of news in this part of the world just now is the recent discovery in Diarbekir of one of the shoes of the Prophet Mohammed ! It is generally supposed that Mohammedans are above the superstitious relic worship of the Greeks and Latins but those who live among them know very well that they sanction some of the most foolish, superstitious practices and revere sacred places and footprints and tombs with what is akin to idolatrous homage. To give you a correct idea of the wonderful relic just discovered I will translate from the Turkish government official organ published in Damascus and called La Syrie or Sunyeh. " The long-lost sister of the noble prophetic shoe, which has long been preserved with distinguished honour in the treasury of the imperial wardrobe in the new sultanic palace in Constanti- nople, has now been found in the possession of Derwish Beg, a descendant of the family of the Abbassides, living in the province of Hakari east of the Tigris, and under the government of Diarbekir. The beg has brought it to Diarbekir with the most ancient testimonies, which prove beyond a question that it is the mate of the famous shoe of the prophet, and in view of these facts the entire population of Diarbekir great and small went out a distance of several hours to meet it, and it was brought in and placed in a special room prepared for it in the house of the mufti of the city, and the curious and eager multi- tude thronged the house in crowds to visit it. " Now it is clear that the noble and holy relic, wherever found, ought to be most sacredly preserved and guarded, and his Im- perial Highness the Sultan, caliph of the two worlds and imam of all Mussulmen, being entrusted with the protection of the two 426 Notable Visitors and Converts Harams (at Mecca and Jerusalem) most honoured and noble and delegated for the preservation of all the exalted prophetic relics, will doubtless preserve this relic also in the holy treasury above mentioned. The effendi above mentioned has left Diarbekir for Constantinople, after allowing the entire population to visit it. The celebration and pious rites performed by the Mussulman population of Diarbekir in high honour of this sacred relic are sufficiently described in the Diarbekir official journal in an extra edition, and there can be no doubt that the lords of Moslem orthodoxy will feel under great obligations for its perusal and show to the editor some substantial proof of their appreciation. " There can be no question that this most precious and holy relic is one of immense value and importance, the flood of whose benefits, material and moral, will overflow the whole Moham- medan world. There is therefore the most assured hope that it will be borne into the Court of Happiness (Constantinople) on a special steamer, with the most exalted honour and ceremony and may God grant (may He be exalted) that we may yet receive the particulars of its grand entrance into the Sublime Porte. . . ." The girls* school in Hamath is proving a great success. It is one of the darkest cities in Syria and one of the most beautiful. For years the brethren of the Tripoli station have had a native preacher, Nasif Sellum, working away in Hamath knocking at the Ear Gate and looking in at the Eye Gate of that Man Soul, but none replied. During our recent visit on June 5th, we met a young woman, Raheel Weider, who had been for eight years a pupil in the orphan house of the excellent Prussian deaconesses in Beirut. She had married and removed to Hamath, and the native preacher found her out. I called on her with him and asked her what she was doing for the good of the people of Hamath. " What can I do, a lone woman in such a dark place ? My husband is poor and I have no means of doing good." " Would you be willing to gather a few girls around you from among your neighbours and give them instruction every day ? We will furnish you a room and pay you for your time." " I will be delighted to do it and will do my best." ♦* Very well. Raheel Welder's Work in Hamath 427 Do you begin next week ? If you have less than ten girls you shall have two dollars a month, and if more than ten, four dol- lars." After giving her earnest advice as to how to carry on the work, and the need of looking to God for aid, we bade her good- bye. She commenced. The Greek bishop and his priests, with the bishop's Mejlis or council came together in great indignation. A deputation waited on both her and her husband Daud, and en- treated her to desist, or the rather, to teach a school for them, but on this condition that no Protestant child should be allowed in the school, and they would pay her a good salary. " Never," said she, •' will I consent to such a plan. I shall invite Moslems, and Jews, Jacobites, Greeks, and Catholics to my school, and shall I reject Protestant children, when for eight years I have been taught and trained by Protestants ? " They then threatened excommunication against all who would send their children to her, and in the Greek Church the great curse was fulminated against all such erring and foolish ones as should send children to the heretics. Raheel held on her way. Nasif Sellum encouraged her and soon they had twenty girls of all sects. The bishop was in a rage. He is a foreign Ionian Greek and hates Protestants in the most senseless and fearful manner. A Prussian prince visited Palmyra and Hamath last spring and on reaching Hamath, sent to the Greek bishop and asked his hospi- tality. The brutal ecclesiastic, on hearing that he was a Protes- tant, refused to entertain him, and the prince went to the little upper room of the Protestant preacher Nasif, and spent the night. The bishop raged against the new girls' school with such violence that the Greek community became divided in two parties, one for the school and one against it. The last letter from Raheel states that she has sixty pupils. At this time the mission decided to occupy Zahleh, In No- vember, 1872, Rev. Gerald F. Dale was stationed in Zahleh. The Zahleh church was organized June, 1873, and Rev. F. W. March joined Mr. Dale November 19, 1873. On November 19, 1876, the Zahleh church edifice was dedicated. 428 Notable Visitors and Converts I have often thought of the monthly concert as the great link between the Christian Church and a perishing world. One hour a month is certainly little enough to devote to prayer and infor- mation about the hundreds of foreign missionaries, in various em- pires and nations, engaged in preaching, teaching, writing, and translating books, editing journals, visiting the people, travelling by land and sea, training a native ministry, overseeing the native churches, planning new modes of reaching blinded and hostile populations, conducting Sunday-schools, Bible classes, and hav- ing under their influence more or less directly, thousands of chil- dren and youth, and hundreds of thousands of heathen, Moham- medans and nominal Christians ; with seminaries, schools, colleges, hospitals, printing-presses, and type foundries, to say nothing of that most responsible and difficult of all works, the translation of the Word of God into the language of millions of our race. On the foreign field are combined all the Boards of our Church : Home Mission, Foreign Mission, Publication, Sustentation, Church Erection, Church Extension, Education, Primary, Colle- giate, and Theological. There are hundreds of native churches, whose members, pastors, and teachers, need the sympathy and prayers of the whole Church. Your missionaries are a mere handful thrown out into the frontier line of the Lord's host among organized and mighty foes. The great source, the only source of their strength and success, is in the sustaining hand of the Lord Himself in answer to the prayers of the Lord's people. The thoughts and hearts and sympathies of the churches at home are naturally and inevitably taken up through the month with interests that are near and visible and pressing. The home work in all its branches must and ever will be linked to the very heart and life of the Church, and all through the month, it must and will be remembered in earnest prayer. But let the Church give that one sacred hour in the month, twelve hours in the year, to the work they are doing among the kingdoms of darkness. Let all missionaries and mission churches be assured that this one hour is the hour of contact between them and the great heart of the Church ; that they and their colabourers, the churches and X 2 o *^ m p o ai o o 5 w Is the Church at Home Praying? 429 pastors, the schools and seminaries, the translators and physicians, the editors and itinerants, the colporteurs and teachers, the per- secuted and the suffering, the inquiring and awakened, as weh as the great perishing myriads of the ignorant, superstitious and fanatical, are being thought of, prayed for, wrestled for and borne up on the arms of faith before the interceding Saviour, the faithful Promiser, who is Head over all things to the Church ! The thought that the Church at home is praying is a tower of strength to the missionary in distant lands. Whatever else is neglected let not the Church forget to pray ; and what time more fit and more hallowed than the monthly concert, when those at home and their brethren and sisters abroad bend around one com- mon mercy seat. XX A Cholera Year The Tripoli school — Close brethrenism — Government hostility — Dr. EUinwood's visit — The Dog River — Dr. Danforth's death — The scourge of cholera 1873-1875. FRIDAY, January 31, 1873, Mr. Calhoun and I went in a little Russian steamer to Tripoli to hold communion, re- ceive members and negotiate for premises for the girls' boarding-school. We received Mr. Yakiib Surruf (now Dr. Sur- ruf), a college graduate and for twenty- five years editor of the Muktutaf Scientific Magazine in Cairo. " Only one received ? " some would say. Yet that one has become one of the most in- fluential men in Modern Egypt. In that little congregation was Nofel Effendi, the well-known Arabic author and M. Elias Saadeh, who was converted in Beirut in 1886. Mr. Antonius Yanni, our brother beloved for seventeen years, offered us his spacious house for ten years for 6,000 piastres or 1^240 a year with eight rooms above for the girls' school and four spacious stone vaulted rooms below for chapel and boys' school. It was a cheap bargain and an admirable home for the school. The Board in New York finally modified the lease to five years, the owner to make needed repairs. It was subsequently pur- chased and enlarged and is one of the most complete educational establishments in the land. It has set the pace for schools of other sects and kept the lead in the education of girls in North- ern Syria. I shall never forget our return voyage on the Messageries French steamer. Mr. Calhoun and I walked the long deck with a calm sea all the way for four hours to Beirut. It was a delight to hold converse with such a man, who, for thirty-three years, had been studying the Bible and teaching it to the youth of 430 The Old Man of Sin 431 Syria. He was dignified and grave in appearance but had the heart of a child and enjoyed humour with great zest. In the higher realm of theological thought he had few peers. As Professor Park of Andover remarked, " He knows more about theology than any of us." In February, 1873, Mr, Chas. Crocker of Sacramento, builder of the Pacific Railroad, visited Beirut and dined at President Daniel Bliss's. I was present. Mr. Crocker gave ^100 for the new col- lege building, and on hearing of a Nubian slave girl who had taken refuge in Dr. Eddy's house in Sidon and whose late owner demanded $2$ for her, took out his purse and gave six Napoleons. He had been a strong anti-slavery man and this case appealed to him. The girl was set free. On the nth Franco Pasha died and was buried in great state at the Hazimiyeh on the Damascus Road four miles from Beirut. His chief monument is the row of " Pride of India " trees on both sides of the Damascus Road and on some of the mountain roads. He was a plain man and well meaning, but too easily influenced by political hacks and a fanatical priesthood. At this time I was putting through the press Mosheim's Church History, a Sunday-school Question Book, and an illustrated book for children, with nine religious services every week and an extended correspondence in Arabic and English. In January, 1874, Mr. P , once connected with the United Presbyterian Mission in Egypt, came to Syria to propagate close Brethrenism. He was a man of morbid disposition, at times seeming to be mentally disordered but had a gift of prayer and pious language which fascinated not a few. Several discharged mission and college employees and some who were restless under the demand of the native churches for liberal gifts towards self- support joined him. He denounced a paid ministry and all church organization and taught perfectionism in its baldest phase. " No Christian can sin. It is the old man who sins. We are the new man. If the old man inside gets rampant and lies and steals I am not responsible." His illustration was that the entering of the new man into the old one was like thrusting a single cartridge 432 A Cholera Year into a double-barrelled gun. The new man cannot sin. If the otiier barrel goes off and somebody is hurt, it is the old man's work. He travelled about and made a few converts here and there. In Hums one of his disciples robbed the shop of another. When called to account he replied triumphantly, " It was the * insan el ateuk ' (the old man) who did it." In Germany one of this type of believers committed a crime and was brought before the judge. He put in the plea, " The old man did it ; I did not." " Very well then," said the judge, " send that old man to jail for six months." This peculiar sect has had many godly adherents in England but its tendency in this land has been Ishmaelitic and disinte- grating. Each brother is bound to sit in judgment on every other and to commune with no one who is not perfect. The logical result soon followed. At first they all met and each in turn administered the com- munion. None but brethren were admitted. Soon they split into sections neither of which would commune with the other and finally each formed an exclusive sect by himself. The result has been demoralizing, and has blasted the spiritual life of many, stopped all charitable and religious contributions among them, and stifled all evangelistic work. Mr. P said he was called to preach to the elect and to pull them out of the other sects. He seemed to have lost all hope and never laboured for the uncon- verted. The great aim seemed to be to break up the little evangelical church in Syria. Thirty-six years have passed and only the scarred and tattered remnants of his work remain. When he died, his widow, a strict follower of the " Brethren " views, sent for me to conduct his funeral, and I have conducted the funeral of all the members who have died in Beirut. One of the last was this same widow Sada, in her early days a gifted, sprightly and beautiful Christian teacher, but in her widowhood lapsed into melancholy. The son asked me to conduct her funeral service, which I did, assured that with all the strange vagaries of her later life, she was at heart a true child of Christ, who trusted in Him alone for salvation. The Press and the Pasha 433 The Tripoli Girls' School which commenced with three pupils has now over forty. The New Year's festival of the school was noticed commendably by the Arabic journal of Beirut. The Jesuits have lately been proved guilty of abducting two Greek girls from Beirut, one of whom they sent to Zahleh and the other to Sidon to their convents. Both of the girls were rescued and restored to their parents, after the French monks and nuns had tried to conceal their whereabouts by an amount of hedging that would shame a Nusairi. The American Press in. Beirut, established in Malta in 1822 and removed to Beirut in 1834, has always confirmed strictly to the laws of the empire. The code of laws of public instruction was issued in the Turkish language in 1869, but not translated for years afterwards. The pashas themselves were ignorant of its provisions. All knew that it was unlawful to print anything at- tacking the Sultan or his government or prejudicial to good morals. In March, 1874, Dr. Van Dyck printed a Httle tract for Louis Sabanjy a papal Syriac priest, replying to attacks upon another priest, Yusef Daiad, printed without objection from the govern- ment and written by the Maronite bishop of Beirut. Priest Y. Daud had established the well-known fact in church history that the Maronites were a heretical Monothelite sect holding that Christ had only one will, a divine will. Sabanjy's tract defended Baud's position and contained nothing against the government or good morals. The Maronites complained and Ibrahim Pasha sent and ordered Dr. Van Dyck to shut the press for a month and pay a fine of ten Turkish pounds. Dr. Van Dyck referred him to Mr. Consul Hay and protested against the pasha's adjudg- ing the case without a trial. The protest was forwarded to Con- stantinople and not heard of again. A few days later the deputy chief of police sent a piece of job work to our press and it was printed for the government. A Maronite banker more zealous than discreet offered our mechanical manager two hundred pounds as a bribe if he would shut up the press for a month, to save the dignity of the Maronite bishop. 434 A Cholera Year Since that day the government has given the press a regular official permit, and as the new laws are perfectly understood we have comparatively little trouble. The chief difficulty is with the censors of the press. No one objects to a censorship, in a land where men of all sects are ready to fly at each other's throats and to vituperate others in language surpassing an Arkansas back- woods editor. But the trouble is with the censor himself. Every foreign book coming into the empire through the custom-house is detained by the censor for examination. If the book contains anything about Mohammed or the Sultan or Turkey or Syria or Arabia or Mecca it will be either mutilated or confiscated. En- cyclopedias as such are prohibited as they are supposed to con- tain articles on these subjects. As a result all encyclopedias coming to Turkey have these articles cut out before shipment from America. Even Murray's and Baedeker's guide-books are often seized and confiscated by overzealous inspectors. Of every Arabic book pre- pared in manuscript for publication we must send two manuscript copies to Constantinople for examination. There it may be de- tained six months or a year, and then it comes back so mutilated in many cases as to be unfit for publication. And the printed copy must be sent to Constantinople for comparison again before it is offered for sale. Sometimes the censors are grossly ignorant and make endless trouble. Alas for the daily papers which must send a proof of every day's edition to the censor who may at the eleventh hour strike out several columns and oblige the editor to substitute other matter and refer it again to the censor. On this account the editors keep in type quantities of padding, such as poems and European gossip, etc., which they substitute for the victimized and proscribed matter. Prof. John Orne of Harvard published an account of the Amer- ican Press in 1894 ^^ the Bibliotheca Sacra. His estimate of its importance is of great value, and ought to be read by all inter- ested in missions. On February 12, 1874, I wrote Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D. D., in part: Rain, Hail, Snow, Storm 435 " The past month has been one of unprecedented storms throughout Syria. Rain, hail, snow, accompanied by violent gales of wind, have swept over sea and land. The destruction of property by landsides and floods is wide-spread and disheartening to the poor fellahin. In the north the sheep have died by hun- dreds. Many poor wayfaring men have been swept away by the swollen streams, and the heights of Lebanon are covered with such a mass of snow that the Damascus diligence has not been able to run for a fortnight so that thousands of men are now at work digging through the drifts. The houses of the mountaineers are saturated with water and many roofs have fallen in. One caravan from Hums to Tripoli had to slaughter three camels which had broken their legs in the deep mud sloughs on the way Last year the whole land was perishing from drought and now it is suffering from floods of water. Would that we had such tokens of the spirit's presence as we long for ! The news of financial pressure at home is painful to us here, and we must apply the knife of retrenchment without shrinking. We are beginning to shut up some of our schools already. The printing work is to be reduced at once, and we are proposing to stop the issue of the weekly, Neshra, the Arabic religious paper which is identified with the name of the mission throughout Syria. You may de- pend on our willingness to make all possible sacrifices to help the Board of Missions to weather the storm. The Austrian Lloyd steamer is just in, having thrown overboard a part of its cargo to save the ship during a storm. We must do the same. At all events we will not give up the ship." During this year Mr. Dale was greatly troubled in Zahleh by the arbitrary arrest of the keeper of the book-shop and his ban- ishment without a trial. Miss Wilson had gone to England. Some months later the priest who had preferred charges against him was himself banished for striking and insulting the same native helper, and subsequently His Excellency, the pasha, became the warm friend of Mr. Dale, the mission, and the college. Mr. Wood was transferred to Sidon, as the work done in the Abeih school had been transferred to the college. In Beirut land was 43^ A Cholera Year purchased in the eastern quarter for a chapel and a school- house. Consul-General Hay was removed and Col. George Fisher came in his place. Miss Fisher's health having failed, she returned to America and Mrs. Shrimpton resigned her position in the Tripoli School. Dr. Thomson spent six months in England on business con- nected with " The Land and the Book." Dr. and Mrs. Eddy and children and Misses Anna H. Jessup and Lilian Jessup left for America in June. At this time the Turkish authorities allowed it to be published in Constantinople that all Protestant schools were to be closed. The word reached Europe and we received letters asking if it were true. 1. Rev. Mr. Zeller of Nazareth tried to open a girls' school in Acre and was forbidden. 2. In Safita where American schools had been in operation for nine years the local mudir got orders to close them but told the people he thought it too small a business to make trouble about. 3. In the Nusairiyeh Mountains east and southeast of Latakia, twenty-five schools of the American Reformed Presby- terian Mission which had been in operation for twenty years were forcibly closed by the Turkish officials and that poor pagan population, thirsting for education, are forbidden to allow their children to be taught. The persecution near Latakia was brutal and violent. Turkish soldiers broke down the doors of the American school building, insulted the teacher's wife and tore off her clothing and jewelry, arrested all the Christian young men, bound them and took them prisoners. The case was referred to the Protestant ambassadors at the Porte and full statements sent to the Evangelical Alliance in London, that pillar of religious liberty and shield of the perse- cuted throughout the world, and an investigation was ordered. But the Turks have closed the door to all Christian light for the pagan Nusairiyeh, resolved on making them Moslems. But they still hate and curse Islam and pray for the day when their children can be taught in the Christian schools again. A Prophecy Fulfilled 437 Notwithstanding the outburst of hostility to our schools not one of them has been closed. In December, 1874, we had sixty-one common schools with i,7S3 boys and 510 girls; three female seminaries in Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon with seventy- six pupils ; one boys' seminary with thirty boys ; one college with sixty-eight students, making 2,474 pupils in all. In i860 Dr. Thomson declared that the Arabic Press would one day be sent over 120 degrees of longitude, from Mogadore on the Atlantic to Pekin in Eastern China. In 1874 this had become a fact, and in December, 1874, an order came from the governor-general of Allahabad in North India for a considerable number of Arabic books published at the Beirut Mission Press. Books had already been sent to Liberia and Pekin and thus the influence of the Syria Mission Press was extending more and more widely. September 19, 1874, I wrote a friend: " The Syrian summer is drawing towards its close and I write to tell you of a few facts bearing on its recent history. As the last winter was one of intense cold, deep snows, famine and suffering, so the summer has been one of unprecedented sickness. I suppose it would be safe to say that tens of thousands of the people are now lying sick of various fevers from Gaza on the south to Aleppo on the north. In some villages work is almost suspended. Yesterday I was in Ain Zehalteh, one of the highest and healthiest of the mountain villages, and 150 of the people were prostrated with fever out of a population of less than 600. Two young students of the Beirut Medical College had their hands full in tending upon the sick. All through Palestine and the region east of the Jordan fevers are an epidemic. " The Turkish military expedition to Northern Moab for the subjection of the rebellious Arab tribes was broken up by the illness of the officers and men. One of the tribes of the Bedawin had sent seven young sheikhs to a certain village as hostages and one of them fell sick. The tribe demanded their release or re- moval to a healthier place. The Turks declined. Soon after the Bedawin mustered a force of 400 horsemen and attacked the 438 A Cholera Year town by night, overpowered the forty Turkish troops, released the hostages, and plundered the treasury of 30,000 piastres. The Arab tribes on the borders have been unusually turbulent and destructive in their raids this summer, and the villagers north, east, and south of Damascus have suffered irreparable loss in cattle, sheep, camels, and grain. The ' Sabeans ' and ' Chal- deans ' of the time of Job maintain worthy successors in the land of Uz in these modern times. The Bedawin question is as great a problem for the Turks as is the Indian question for the Americans. " After all that is said of the decay of the Ottoman power, it is certain that they have shown marvellous energy in keeping up their military and civil service throughout the empire. They do somehow collect enormous taxes and gather immense sums of money from the people; even when famine and want are crushing them to the dust. They maintain a well-equipped army and have recently imported into Syria 180 rifled steel breech-loading pieces of field artillery, and cargo of American breech-loading rifles, with fixed ammunition. They are about taking a census of the whole empire and seem to be laying their plans to live, whatever else the Russian government may be planning for them. They have a postal telegraph service, de- fective enough, and yet enabling the central power in Constanti- nople to move the whole empire like a machine. " Hostility to foreigners, and jealousy of their presence and operations of every description, commercial, educational, and re- ligious, are on the evident increase. Let us be thankful to God that the opportunities of the past have been improved, and that the Bible has a foothold in every important part of the Turkish Empire to-day, from which nothing short of a second St. Bartholomew's day can expel it. The translation and printing of the Arabic Bible alone, as accomplished already, will more than justify the expenditure of men and means during half a century in Syria. And were the Syria Mission to-day to be expelled by fire and sword, that Bible would remain and with it the evangelical churches and evangelical sentiments of thousands of the people of the various sects in the land. A Loving Testimonial 439 "On the nth of November, 1874, two beloved elders of the Beirut church, Mr. Elias Fuaz and Mr. John Abcarius, called on me and presented me on behalf of the Beirut church a beautiful octagonal walnut casket, containing a filigree silver tray, with twelve silver coffee cup holders, and a gold lined silver sugar bowl, with an Arabic letter from the Beirut church full of expres- sions of loving gratitude for my services to them for the fourteen years past. I had been acting as their pastor for the past four- teen years and although constantly urging them to call a native pastor, I had been obliged to continue in this service for want of a suitable candidate. I had been acting pastor of the church — not of my own choice, but by the vote of my brethren. I al- ways regarded the relation as a mere temporary one, made neces- sary by the failure to find a native pastor, I preached to them and visited them when sick and well, married them, baptized their children, administered the Lord's Supper, and buried their dead. I loved them, tried to bear their infirmities and at times found the position a trying one, but I loved them and they evidently loved me in return. But the situation was perilous and I was relieved more than words can express when in July, 1890, my old pupil Rev, Yusef Bedr was settled over the church as its first legitimate pastor. I keep this gift as a precious souvenir of the good men and women, now almost all gone to glory, with whom I lived and laboured for many years. " The transit of Venus on the morning of the 9th of December was an event of profound interest. Dr. Van Dyck the astronomer of the Beirut College had published in the Neshra a calcula- tion of the exact time of the beginning and end of the transit and though the preceding day was one of clouds and rain, the morning of Wednesday was clear and beautiful. When the mighty disk of the sun came rolling up above the summits of Mount Lebanon, the planet Venus, that bright morning star, lay like a minute black speck on its face. It continued to move up- ward and northward, until at 8 : 29 it touched the inner edge of the sun's circumference and at 8 : 5 3 its outer edge. It was plainly visible through a plain smoked glass, and multitudes were watch- 440 A Cholera Year ing its progress. Dr. Van Dyck obtained successful observations of the transit which have been transmitted to the Imperial Ob- servatory at Constantinople and to London. It was a most im- pressive spectacle and affected my mind as no eclipse or other phenomenon ever did before. And it was perhaps because my thoughts took a religious direction at the very moment of the observation. It became a striking illustration of what the brightest earthly objects may become when thrust between us and Christ. This fair planet whose soft liquid light is so brilliant in September that it is reflected in the sea and casts a distinct shadow, which knows no peer among the stars when filling its legitimate sphere and shedding the reflected rays of the sun's original light, is suddenly transformed in December into a positive deformity, an unsightly blot on the sun's face, and instead of shining upon the earth, actually intercepts a portion of the sunlight and prevents its reaching the earth. Thus anything earthly, however shining and attractive, however useful and noble, when in its proper sphere, subordinate to Christ and borrowing its lustre and glory from Him, becomes a blemish, a blot, an injury, when obtruding itself between us and our Saviour. Here in the East the whole machinery of Oriental Ritualism in the Eastern Churches has been thrust between the people and Christ and becomes a dark blot, a cloud interrupting the light of the Sun of Righteousness. The Church, so lovely in itself when shining in the light of Christ, loses its lustre and becomes a mere dark and insignificant body, when thrust into the place of Christ or magnified above Him. " Venus never appeared to my eye so small, as when brought into such overwhelming contrast with the stupendous proportions of the King of Day. On a summer's evening when seen from Lebanon, just dropping into the sea, whose waves are silvered with its light for miles, Venus seems almost a sun in itself. It is shining as God intended it to shine, reflecting the bright rays of the sun. But when in a transit across the sun's face, it seemed so small, so black, that it was easy to believe what the astronomers tell us, that one hundred and ten such spots would hardly form a line long enough to cross the diameter of the sun." A VIEW IN LEBANON Near Ain Anub, on the road between Abeih and Beirut. Dr. Ellinwood's Visit 441 1875 — On February 17th, we were favoured with a visit from Dr. and Mrs. EUinwood. As secretary of the Board he had been in China, Japan, Slam, and India, and his stay in Syria was a blessing to us all. We held a meeting of the mission andhstened to his counsels. There was no air of official dignity nor assump- tion of the right to dictate, but a simple, clear, level-headed han- dling of even the most complicated questions. He gave us the benefit of his observations in the missions in Central and Eastern Asia, and we enjoyed the intercourse with a man so scholarly, consecrated and refined. The long expected celebration of the introduction of the Dog River water into Beirut took place yesterday, May 14, 1875, in an immense canopy erected on the top of the upper reservoir. The Waly of Syria, the Governor of Lebanon, the Pasha of Beirut, and the Algerian Prince, Abd el Kadir of Damascus, as well as all the dignitaries foreign and native of Beirut and Lebanon, to- gether with the missionaries, bishops, priests, merchants, physi- cians, etc., etc., assisted at the exercises. This living volume of " streams from Lebanon " is a glorious boon to this ancient city. The name Beeroth (Beirut) " City of Wells " will remain, but the wells from which water has been drawn for thousands of years will soon go into disuse. Public hydrants are opened in the different quarters of the city, fountains are beginning to play in private gardens. Dwellings, schools, churches, khans, mosques, shops, and coffee-houses are being supplied rapidly with the delicious water, and Beirut is receiving fresh vitality. Editors and poets are vying with each other in singing the praises of the Dog River water and Damascus is no longer suffered to boast over its rival Beirut. What a type water is of the blessings of the Gospel. May the life-giving streams of gospel truth soon flow in every house and every heart, not only in Beirut but in all Syria ! On June 29th, Dr. Van Dyck was summoned by telegraph to the bedside of Dr. Galen B. Danforth, in Tripoli. Dr. Danforth was dangerously ill with gastric malarial fever and succumbed to 442 A Cholera Yeaf it July 9th, leaving a widow and two little daughters, just one month after Mr. S. H. Calhoun and family sailed for America. He had been in Syria three and one-half years and had begun a career of great usefulness. His reputation was growing and the sorrow at his death was great through the whole region of Tripoli, Safita, and Hums. When stricken down he was planning to summer with Rev. Samuel Jessup in the picturesque village of Seir, six hours east of Tripoli. On June 5th I rode up there with him, my brother Samuel and Mr. Hardin. It is the most beautiful site in Leb- anon, crystal streams and fountains of ice-cold water, splendid ancient oak trees, and bracing air, and above on the south and east towering cliffs thousands of feet high. While there, Mustafa Agha, whose guests we were, stole my field-glasses from my saddle-bags outside the door while pretending to be getting coffee for us.^ The village is owned by two rival feudal families of Mos- lem robbers and sheep thieves, with half a dozen Maronite peas- ants as their retainers. Could that nest of cutthroats be cleared out and a decent peasantry be placed there, it would be the most attractive summer resort in Syria. As it is, no one ventures in to that earthly paradise. The death of Dr. Danforth who married Emily Calhoun, followed the next year in December by the death in Buffalo, N. Y., of Rev. Simeon H. Calhoun, " the Saint of Leb- anon," broke up that family in Abeih which for twenty-seven years had been the model family of Mount Lebanon, where the noble, godly, scholarly life of the father, the sweet, gladsome, cheerful piety of the mother, and the loveliness of the children, made it the most attractive of earthly homes. Mrs. Calhoun returned to Syria in 1877 and laboured in Deir el Komr, Beirut, and Shwifat. Her daughter Susan was stationed in the Tripoli Girls' School in 1879 and at Shwifat in 1880. The only son, Charles William Calhoun, M. D., a graduate of ' When we came out to mount I missed the glass, and he swore by the beard of Mohammed that he would punish the man who stole it. Ten years later Dr. Ira Harris of Tripoli was called to the beg's house and saw ray glass there minus one lens ! The Plague Appears 443 Williams, his father's alma mater, and a skillful surgeon, came to the mission from America in July, 1879, and took up the work of his late brother-in-law in Tripoli. He was a hearty, whole- souled devoted missionary ; boyish, and so full of life and humour that he kept his patients laughing even when tortured with pain. He was welcomed in the villages where his clinics were crowded with hundreds of the diseased and suffering, and his skill and patience gave him a great reputation. Cholera raged in Syria in 1865, and returned in 1875. The latter visitation began in Hamath among the Mecca pilgrims. It appeared in June, and spread to Hums, Damascus and Beirut. Jewish refugees from Damascus carried the pest to the village of Saghbin on the east slope of the Lebanon range facing Mount Hermon. Rev. Gerald F. Dale, Jr., who was living in Zahleh with his colleague, Mr. F. W, March, had a little Protestant flock in Saghbin and hearing that there were some twenty cases in the village resolved to go to their help, and, if possible, stay the plague. We in Beirut, profiting by the experience of 1865, had pre- pared a large supply of the noted " Hamlin Cholera Remedy" (equal parts of laudanum, camphor and rhubarb) and sent it to all the stations, with printed instructions in English and Arabic, taken from Dr. Hamlin's pamphlet and annotated by Dr. Van Dyck. Mr. Dale had received a supply and gave out in Zahleh that he was going to stricken Saghbin. Now as usual at such times the whole country was covered with a network of cordons, village against village, and no one from Saghbin could enter Zahleh. The people flocked to Mr, Dale's house and begged him not to go. " It will be certain death to you." " No matter, I am not afraid. I must go and help those poor people." The " Zahlehites " begged him not to go and finally when he had suc- ceeded in finding one man willing to go as his muleteer, they warned him that he would not be allowed to return to Zahleh. On reaching the village he found the teacher at his post, who reported some thirty cases of cholera, and the victims in despair, as it was supposed there was no remedy for it. The mass of the 444 A Cholera Year people and all of the priests had fled to the vineyards far up the mountainside, leaving the sick without food or care. Mr. Dale took the teacher and the medicines and went to every patient, giving them the medicine and the directions and assuring them that they would recover. His remedies and his cheery and en- couraging words did wonders. Only one patient died after his arrival. He kept going the rounds and trained the teacher to use the medicines. At sunset he rang the chapel bell for service. The timid people in the vineyards hearing the bell took courage and began to come back. Confidence was restored and the plague was stayed. The Protestants all returned to their houses, took lessons in the use of the medicines, and in a week the morale of the people was restored. Mr. Dale, then, finding that he could not return to Zahleh, crossed the Lebanon range and came to my house in Shemlan, where he was a great favourite with the children. This visit of Mr. Dale to Saghbin and his care of the sick, when priests and people had abandoned their sick, gave him great influence in all that region. On his return to Zahleh in August he had an ova- tion, and his example won him and his cause many friends. In April, 1876, seventy families there had become Protestants. Cholera had now, August 6th, reached Beirut, and the Lebanon government placed a quarantine of six days on all persons com- ing out of Beirut. As we were all in Lebanon, this put a stop to our visiting Beirut. Some 20,000 of the Beirut population had fled to the Lebanon towns and villages. The muleteers, who reaped a harvest by transporting the panic-stricken people to the mountains, had circulated the most alarming false reports for some twenty days of sudden deaths in Beirut, long before a case of cholera had occurred. The Arabic journals discussed what ought to be done and the city government exerted itself with unprecedented energy in cleansing the streets, lanes, and vaults. The Moslems, contrary to their usual custom, were leaving the city in large numbers for the mountains, and the new Mohammedan journal, Tumrat el Fuiioon, had an elaborate article on the Divine Decrees and Fate A Magnificent Fatalism 445 which is so characteristic that I will translate a part of it. The object of the writer, Sheikh Ibrahim Effendi Ahdab, is to per- suade his fellow Moslems to remain in Beirut without fear of cholera. " Man's allotted term of life is an impregnable fortress. God has appointed man's sorrows and joys by an eternal decree and wherever man turns, he must walk in the path fixed by irrevers- ible fate. " Be calm then ; our affairs are fixed by decree. Banish from your thoughts all deceit. Remain where you are and save your- selves the trouble of removing. Nothing you can do will shield you from fate. Everything is by decree and fate. No human precautions are of any avail. The divine allotment is the castle of our life. He decides in His wisdom as He finds necessary. When a man's day of doom is far off, no plague or accident can hasten it, no arrow or evil eye can smite him. He is safe in his way and kept by the care of his Lord. Let him rush into deadly battle, let him leave a life of quiet for the crashing of spear-heads, let him hurl himself into the jaws of Hons, let his only light in darkness be the flashing of the shining spear, yet he is safe. " But if his day of death be at hand, there is no hope of pro- longing life. No care or cunning can ward off the blow of death. No precaution of ours can lengthen life the winking of an eye. How can career caution affect what fate has appointed ? " Can he escape from fate though he fly away on the wings of eagles ? Can the walls of castles keep off the approach of death ? or shield from his arrows when once his bow is bent? " One of the ancient kings fled from the plague, defying the divine decree, and when a short distance away from the city, fell a victim to the plague. The lines of his fate met when fate decreed. This proves our position and leads one to believe what we asserted that there is no use in running away from pestilence. It is better for each man to remain in his place and resign him- self to the decree and fate ; especially if he be among the leaders of the people, whom great and small look up to and imitate and no harm shall befall him. 446 A Cholera Year " When Khalid Ibn el Walid, the great Sword of Islam, drew near to death, as he lay on his bed in peace, after he had plunged in to the very abysses of war and carnage, and there was not a spot on his body unscarred by battle wounds and the point of the spear and arrow, he exclaimed (may God be propitious to him), * Behold, I who have lived amid such perils and raised the stand- ard in so many battles, now die a natural death upon my bed ! ' And this also proves our position. " If it be replied that God has bidden us avoid the leprous and to escape from lions, and to this there is no exception, I reply that this refers to him whose faith is strong, that if he escapes he will avoid these dangers. And the command was given to pre- vent men falling into doubt when their faith is not strong enough to enable them to face the danger. The traditions of the Prophet prove this. He once (peace be upon him) sat down to eat with a leper, and thrust his hand into the dish with him saying, ' Eat trusting in God and fear no evil.' " Of a like character is the Prophet's injunction to neither enter nor leave a place where there is pestilence. This command was given for the confirmation of faith that believers might not fall into doubt. " Similar is what is said of the Khalif Omr (may God favour him) when he refused to enter a plague-stricken city, in obedience to the command * enter not,' and he was asked, ' Do you refuse to enter in order to escape from the decree of God ? ' He said, • Yes, we escape from God's decree to God's decree,' and he said this to prevent the weak minded from holding views contrary to the Prophet's command. " In truth, life is limited by fate. When our time comes it will not delay. The Great Agent is God the Exalted. There is none beside Him. No creature can die without His decree and ordinance. Trust in God. Leave all things to His decree and you will be at rest from all anxious thoughts. Fate has limited our lives. Whatever befalls you was decided from eternity by the One Creator." This is in brief the substance of the sheikh's poetical utterance, A Fortuitous " Concurrence '* 44^ and the editor Abd el Kadir Kobbany clinches the argument by what he styles " A Practical Sermon Confirming the Above." " One of the Christian citizens of Damascus fled to one of the villages of Jebel Kolmun to escape from the cholera which has driven so many to flee from their homes at great sacrifice and in- convenience. He took with him his wife and son and on arriving at what he supposed to be a place of safe refuge, and settling his house, his servant girl opened a tin of kerosene oil by melting the red wax stopper with a lighted candle when by a concurrence (!) it took fire and burned up the house and the entire family. Con- sider then and wonder how the divine decree and fate led them out to the place appointed for their destruction by a cause other than what they had feared and tried to escape from ! " From this you can derive some idea of the modern Moslem journalistic treatment of the great theological doctrine of fate. Just how they act upon it and just what they mean by it is better seen by their deeds than by their words. In 1865 they induced the Mufti of Beirut to decide ex cathedra that Mohammed forbade flying from the plague, but inasmuch as cholera did not exist in those days, he had no reference to cholera and men can act now as they please. This year they are going ofl'to the mountains in large numbers having permission to leave, on Omr's ground that •' they flee from God's decree to God's decree," and that if they go to Lebanon they are decreed to go to Lebanon, etc. But the modern Moslem is not disposed to imitate Mohammed by putting his hands into the dish and eating with a leper. He would insist that the leper be clean first. Immediately following the article on fate is one on cleanliness and diet. The editor was in grandiloquent style mixing his remarks with wit and satire. He warns the people against gluttony and intemperance ; says that in some of the streets and alleys he cannot pass without holding both his nose and his mouth with his hands and that it is enough to give one the plague to look at some of the outhouses of the Beirut mansions. He begs the gluttons to restrain them- ^48 A Cholera Year selves, to put their minds into their heads and not to eat three meals in one. He earnestly recommends that they do not begin the day by eating, as he had himself observed, on an empty stom- ach, five unpeeled cucumbers, followed by half a dozen hard boiled eggs, and crowned with three pounds of apricots, as such a course might damage their fellow men. He says that unless the town is thoroughly cleaned, few can escape the apprehended pestilence. He says that some may object that filth and gutters and garbage are not clean subjects for a respectable editor to talk about, but he replies that " if you will clean the city I will have a clean subject to write upon and the cleaner the city the cleaner the paper ! " His fatalism fails him on this subject. The semi-annual meeting of the mission was held in Abeih in September attended by eight missionaries. It was decided that the Abeih Boys' Seminary should hereafter, 1st, train teachers, 2d, prepare boys for the college, 3d, teach English to theological candidates. Negotiations were set on foot to purchase the Jebran Abela house in Sidon for the girls' boarding-school. Miss Kipp, broken down in health, sailed December 15th, on the American bark Robinson Crusoe for Boston. Captain Robinson, on his return to Beirut, said to me, " Miss Kipp is the most truly sincere Christian woman I ever met. She is pure gold." She afterwards laboured in Auburn in the Old Ladies' Home with great acceptance and continued there until her death. Mrs. Hanford (now Mrs. Professor Moore of Andover) took her place in Tripoli school. Dr. W. W. Eddy and family and Dr. Dennis and family returned from America. Cholera having ceased in Beirut, the mission schools and the college opened as usual in October. The year of 1876 was one of great unrest and excitement throughout the Turkish Empire. Insurrection broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Servia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. May 6th the French and German consuls were murdered in Salonica and massacres occurred in Bulgaria. May I2th a revo- An Incident Closed with Prayer 449 lution occurred in Constantinople resulting in the fall of the Grand Vizier Mahmoud Pasha. May 30th the Sultan Abdul Aziz was deposed and Murad V elevated in his place. June 4th Abdul Aziz was assassinated. August 31st Murad V was de- posed, being succeeded by Abdul Hamid II. December 19th Midhat Pasha, a man of liberal and enlightened views, was ap- pointed grand vizier and on December 23d a constitution was proclaimed for the Turkish Empire. The Mohammedans were distressed at the drain on their men for the wars in the north and the Christians were in constant fear. When the constitution was proclaimed, the Pasha of Beirut, a liberal and enlightened man, summoned representatives of all the sects to the seraia to hear the firman of Abdul Hamid giving equal civil rights to all the Sultan's subjects and granting to the Christians the right of military service and office. After the reading of the official firman in both the Turkish and Arabic languages, the pasha asked an old Mohammedan sheikh of the Orthodox School to close the ceremony with prayer. All the company arose, when the sheikh, a venerable white-bearded dig- nitary, stepped forward and prayed the following stereotyped prayer which is used in prayers for the Sultan : " O Allah, grant the victory to His Imperial Majesty the Sultan Abdul Hamid Khan. Destroy all his enemies ; destroy the Russians ; O Allah, destroy the infidels. Tear them in tatters, grind them in powder, rend them in fragments, because they are the enemies of the Mohammedans, O Allah ! " He was about to proceed when the mufti, or chief interpreter of the Koranic law, stepped rapidly up to him, pulled him by the coat collar, stopped him and whispered in his ear, when he proceeded, " O Allah, destroy the infidels because they are the enemies of the Moslems, the Chris- tians, and the Jews." This was an Orthodox Mohammedan prayer,^ but the mufti was shrewd enough to see that it needed modification, since the new firman guaranteed equal rights to all, and it was hardly the proper thing to offer it in the presence of the clergy of the Greeks, Catholics, Maronites, Armenians and ^See Lane's " Modern Egyptians," Vol. II. 450 A Cholera Year Protestants, and the rabbis of the Jews. When the ceremony was ended the bishops left in high dudgeon and sent a protest to the pasha against that prayer. He replied courteously that it was a mistake and would never be repeated. War did not actually break out with Russia until April, 1877, but the entire year 1876 was full of anxiety and fear among the Christian population. The mission suffered great loss this year in the resignation and return to America, August 4th, of Dr. Wm. M. Thomson, author of " The Land and the Book," and the death of Rev. S. H. Cal- houn in Buffalo December 14th. We have already given a sketch of the lives of these two eminent men, the like of whom we shall not see again. Dr. Thomson lived some years in New York and then in Denver, Col., with his daughter Mrs. Maria Walker, in whose house he died April 8, 1894, aged eighty-nine years. His daughter Miss Emilia removed to Tripoli in May, as colleague of Miss H. La Grange, who arrived in January with Miss Everett from New York. Since that time for thirty-three years Miss La Grange has continued as the faithful, beloved and successful head of the Tripoli Girls' Boarding-School. Miss Thomson later on came to Beirut where she is an invaluable member of the fac- ulty of the girls' school. The Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil has just been in Beirut and visited all our literary institutions and went carefully through the press. We gave him a set of all our Arabic scientific and educa- tional publications and a fine copy of the vowelled Arabic Bible for the library of Brazil. He was a plain, modest man, who came to Syria incognito and showed a deep interest in all educational and literary work. We little thought that in thirteen years he would be obliged to abdicate, and that within thirty years not less than 25,000 Syrian emigrants would have entered Brazil and that several Arabic newspapers would be published in Rio Janeiro and San Paulo ! In April, 1877, Russia declared war against Turkey and the whole empire was in distress. Sixty thousand men were taken from Syria, leaving their families in thousands of cases unpro- Philip SchafF's Visit 451 vided for and in great suffering. New money taxes were levied and the Christians, who at such times are envied on account of not having to furnish soldiers, were in great fear of massacre. Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff visited Syria in April and we were greatly refreshed by his visit. He was in vigorous health and overflowing with wit and wisdom. Mrs. Schaff preceded him to Beirut in company with Mr. and Mrs. Egbert Starr of New York. It gave me great pleasure to show Dr. Schaff our press, the schools, the college, the theological class, and the German Dea- conesses' Institute. We asked him to address the theological students and I offered to translate for him, as the students did not know English. He began, and, to my dismay, I found he was speaking in Latin. I had been out of Yale College twenty- six years and my last essay in Latin was the presbytery trial piece in 1855, so that I had to use " that thing which I call my mind" with some rapidity, but Dr. Schaff spoke deliberately and I succeeded in giving them at least the "substance of doctrine" which the doctor was presenting with such mediaeval fluency. Dr. Dennis and I made no comment on his fluency in Latin and I never spoke of it until the fall of 1879, when on the eve of my sailing for Syria he asked me to address the students of the Union Theological Seminary in New York. Here was a strong tempta- tion to address them in Arabic. But I desisted and instead told the students of the doctor's addressing our Beirut students in Latin ! At the close of the service the doctor said to me, " Did I actually speak at that time in Latin ? " " Certainly," said I. " Well," said he, " I was not conscious of it at the time." He was so familiar with Latin that he spoke it as freely as English or German. It was a fete day at the Prussian deaconesses, and as I walked down the street with him to visit them, the doctor asked me if I had ever read Hans Breitman. I said yes. He was much pleased and began to repeat the whole of " Hans Breitman gave a barty," and " Where is that barty now ? Gone to the ewig- keit," and he shook with laughter as he recited it. Leland's Anglo-German language he appreciated most keenly. 452 A Cholera Year On entering my study he looked around on the books and his eye caught a row of " Lange's Commentary edited by P. Schaff," and he exclaimed, " Mountains of mud with here and there a vein of gold." " Yes," said I, " and the gold is chiefly the work of the Ameri- can editor," He was deeply interested in securing a Biblical museum in Union Theological Seminary and left ;^350 with a committee consisting of Dr. George Post, Dr. E. R. Lewis, and myself to purchase " such implements and articles original or imitated as are of real interest and useful to theological students for the understanding of Bible history and Bible lands and the domestic, social, and religious life of the Jews. Also a judicious selection of Bible plants and Bible animals. If you need ;^300 or ;^500 more, I will raise the money. The museum must be completed no matter what it costs." Just now all is anxiety and alarm about the great war between Russia and Turkey. A forced contribution of money about one dollar on every male Moslem over fifteen years of age is now being levied. On February 9th I rode to Zahleh, through great drifts of snow from ten to twenty feet deep to help Mr, Dale in dedicating the new church at Jedeetha. It was built by funds sent by the mission school of the Brick Church in New York. On my return I learned that General Grant was hourly ex- pected on the Vandalia from Jaffa. He intends to go to Baalbec and Damascus, but it has been snowing for forty-eight hours on the heights of Lebanon, and I doubt whether even General Grant can " fight it out on that line." Fifteen hundred Circassians have arrived in Beirut from Con- stantinople. They fled from the Caucasus to Bulgaria, and were engaged in the murderous assaults on the poor Bulgarian Chris- tians. They are here en route for Hauran and other places in the interior. They are like walking arsenals, armed with knives, swords, pistols, and guns. One of them drew a knife on a young Greek merchant here on Thursday, and now the military are dis- End of Russo-Turkish War 4^3 arming them. They are lodged in mosques and khans waiting for the Damascus Road to be opened. Yesterday I saw down- town a half-bushel of silver church ornaments, bracelets and so forth, which these miscreants had stolen from the Bulgarians, and are selling to the Beirut silversmiths to raise ready money. They have been offering their girls for sale in one of the mosques — a new business for Beirut. We only hope that they will leave as soon as possible, lest something arouse their fierce nature, and serious results ensue. On January 31st the Russo-Turkish War ended, and on July 13th the treaty of Berlin was signed which separated from Turkey, Roumani Servia, and Montenegro, ceded the most of Turkish Armenia to Russia as well as Batum, and made Bulgaria a Christian principality. Civil rights were guaranteed to non-Mo- hammedans in Turkey. Austria also occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina and England June 4th occupied Cyprus, en- gaging to maintain the integrity of the Turkish dominions in Asia. Thousands of Circassians driven out of Bulgaria were brought to Syria and established flourishing colonies in Northern Syria and in Jaulan east of the Jordan. In our mission field, owing to the death of Mr. Calhoun, the Abeih Academy has been discontinued, as the college prepara- tory department was expected to do the same work in the future. Dr. W. W. Eddy was transferred to Beirut for the theological class, and Rev. Frank Wood was transferred from Abeih to Sidon, but before he removed he was smitten down with mortal disease. In April I left for America with my family and in July heard of the death of Mr. F. A. Wood of the Syria Mission. Mr. Wood had been for more than seven years in Syria. He had a fine knowledge of the Arabic language, was a man of superior culture, an enthusiastic teacher, of fervent piety, and great zeal. Having been for three years the principal of Abeih Academy, he was about to remove to Sidon, as the training work done in Abeih is hereafter to be done in the college in Beirut. His 454 A Cholera Year death leaves the Sidon field in the sole charge of young Mr. Eddy who is to sail for Syria August 31st. Mr. Wood was greatly and deservedly beloved. The missionaries are deeply afflicted in his death. The native church will lament his death as will his pupils and friends throughout Syria. Physically athletic, he seemed likely to outlive us all. His widow and the little daughter Lucy are entitled to the sympathies and prayers of God's people. In August Mrs. Calhoun, who had returned from America, was stationed in Deir el Komr to labour among the women and girls^ Miss Jackson and Mrs. Wood returned to America. I sailed with my family April i ith for America. The morn- ing of that day at half-past six I called to bid good-bye to Mr. N. Tubbajy, that dear man of God whom I loved as a brother. He had been confined to his bed for weeks, and after I offered prayer he drew me down and kissed me and wept. I was much overcome. He was one of the purest, truest men I ever knew and loved, and before I returned from America he was released from his sufferings. He was the prime mover in the erection of the " Eastern Chapel " and left a legacy for the support of a school in connection with it. At ten o'clock I went with my brother Samuel and other friends to the house of Mrs. A. Mentor Mott, where 1,500 school children were assembled and I made them a parting address. They, through their teachers, presented to me a beautiful Arabic fare- well address. That sight of such a multitude of children being taught in evangelical mission schools was stamped upon my memory and was a comfort to me during the long months of my absence. After a prosperous trip by land and sea we reached New York, May 15th, and after spending one night at my mother's in Montrose, I went to the General Assembly in Pittsburg, where I met many old friends and was entertained by Mr. Robert Hays in Allegheny. At Yale commencement I was the guest of President Woolsey ?^nd met Professor Salisbury, Hon. Peter Parker, and S. Wells Death of Elias Fuaz 455 Williams, both of China. In June we also attended the golden wedding of Hon. Wm. E. Dodge at Tarrytown. In July I attended with my sons William and Henry the hundredth anniversary of the city of Wilkesbarre, and at a recep- tion given by an old friend, Mrs. Charles Parrish, met President R. B. Hayes, Secretary of State John Sherman, and Governor Hartranft. Seventy-five thousand people listened or tried to listen to the speech of the President. My brother Samuel, Dr. Eddy, and Dr. Dennis kept me informed about Syrian affairs; and I learned with sorrow of the death of Elias Fuaz, the oldest survivor of the First Protestant Church in Syria. He was always called Abu Nasif (father of Nasif) although he had no children. It was a title of respect. So when at about the age of sixty-five he married and had a son, he was obliged to call him Nasif. Little Nasif was a lovely boy, and as his door was directly across a narrow lane from my door, he was a favourite with my children. When about six years of age he was taken with severe convul- sion and after a few days of struggle died. I never saw a more pathetic sight than the agony of that aged father over the death struggles of his only child, the child of his old age. He hardly left the bedside day or night for days and when the little grave was filled, he walked daily a mile to the cemetery carrying flowers. But life had lost its charm for him and he gradually declined and passed away. During the summer of 1878 Rev. W. K. Eddy visited us in Montrose, and some weeks later, while on a visit to Scranton the First and Second Churches jointly agreed to support him, a son of Dr. Eddy, as their missionary to Syria. He was appointed and assigned to Sidon station, where his knowledge of Arabic and the Arab race enabled him at once to enter full upon work as a missionary, a work which he maintained with growing use- fulness for twenty-nine years. One day in June, 1878, when calling at the old mission house, 33 Centre Street, New York, Dr. Ellin wood took me down to the dimly lighted cellar where the luggage of incoming and out- going missionaries was stored, and where young missionaries and 45^ A Cholera Year their wives did their packing, and showed me two massive slabs of wood of the Cedars of Lebanon, sent to him by Rev. O. J. Hardin of Tripoli, Syria, but which he found to be an elephant on his hands. No one would buy them and they were in the way. Would I take them and dispose of them ? At that time in Montrose, Mr. Chas. Crandall, inventor of the famous " Build- ing Blocks," had a toy factory filled with the most beautiful modern machinery, run by steam, planes, saws, dovetailing machines, lathes, and polishing sandpaper wheels, which filled me with delight. When a child I used to spend hours watching the village carpenters and wagon makers, but this elegant machinery made my " eyes water." We were kindly allowed free access to the mysterious shop from which emanated those curious creations of Mr, Crandall's genius which delighted hundreds of thousands of children all over the world. It struck me that here would be the place to turn those cedar logs to account for the benefit of the Tripoli Girls' Boarding-School. Mr. Crandall entered heartily into the scheme of cutting up that precious wood into table tops, paper folders, rulers, cubes, barrels, balls, paper weights, and so forth. So the large slabs six feet by two feet by ten inches were brought to Montrose. A contract was made with Mr. Crandall with minute specifications as to the style and finish of the blocks, and the work began. The cedar wood was so hard that the sparks flew from the circu- lar saws, and some of the saws were broken. The wood came into Mr. Hardin's possession in a peculiar way. No one is allowed to cut wood from that ancient cedar grove. It is a sacred place of the Maronites and is under the protection of the Patriarch of Lebanon, At times when " the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, yea the Lord breaketh the Cedars of Lebanon " (Psalm 29 : 5) and the lightning rends off huge branches from the trees, specimens of the wood can be ob- tained. The Grand Duke Maximilian visited Syria in the '60s, went to the Cedars and obtained permission from the patriarch to take several large slabs of wood, A Syrian merchant in the Meena of Tripoli took the job, and at great expense took native Selling the Cedar Blocks 457 sawyers up to the grove, cut out these huge pieces, and transported them on camels to the Meena to await the frigate of the Austrian duke. But he took another route and the merchant was left with the lumber on his hands. The Austrian consul did not pay the expense he had incurred and he left them stored in a ware- house near the port. At length, after years of waiting, he offered them to his neighbour, Mr. Hardin, who bought them at a moderate figure and shipped them to Dr. EUinwood. They were from the old traditional cedar grove of B'sherreh, southeast of Tripoli and about 6,000 feet above the sea. The trees are about 425 in number and until the year 1862 it was sup- posed to be the only grove in Lebanon, but I have visited no less than eleven in Northern and Southern Lebanon, those at Hadeth el Jibbeh and Baruk containing thousands of trees, and were the all-devouring goats who eat up every green thing banished from Lebanon, there is no reason why Lebanon's heights could not again be crowned with magnificent forests of these splendid evergreen trees. The grand ducal slabs were cut from a branch of one of the oldest trees reckoned by Mr. Calhoun and Dr. Thomson to be not less than three thousand years old. Ordinary tools made no im- pression on the wood, and but for the kind consent of Mr. Crandall to use his splendid machinery to cut it up and polish it, it must have remained as an heirloom for the Board of Foreign Missions. My children took great interest in the scheme of sell- ing the finished blocks and fancy articles. Harry, then fourteen years old, was made secretary and treasurer of the cedar fund for the Tripoli school buildings. Advertisements with the descriptive price lists were sent to some twenty religious journals, a specimen of the wood being sent to each editor. Soon applica- tions with postal money orders or cash began to pour into the Montrose post-ofifice, and the outgoing- mails and the express offices took hundreds of carefully wrapped and labelled packages. At the final summing up, after paying all expenses, the sum of about six hundred dollars was sent to Dr. EUinwood for the Tripol* school. It seemed fitting that the money should go to aid in 458 A Cholera Year educating girls from the region of the ancient Cedars, for the river of Tripoli, the sacred Kadisha, springs from a gushing foun- tain a little way from the old cedar grove. After spending July and August in visiting various churches, I set out September 9th, under the auspices of the Women's Boards of Missions, on a Western campaign. I entered upon it with great enthusiasm. It was a rare chance to see the West, to cross the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers, to see Chicago, and to meet with thousands of good Christian people. I was absent forty-six days ; made forty-eight addresses, travelled four thousand four hundred and fifty miles and addressed about thirteen thousand people. After spending Sunday, September 29th, at Dubuque with Dr. D. J. Burrell, I was booked for the University of Madi- son, Wisconsin, Monday evening. All Sunday afternoon and evening the rain fell in torrents and on Monday morning, on going to the railroad station I was told that owing to a " wash- out " no train could reach Madison that day. As I was expect- ing to go from Madison to the meeting of the American Board in Milwaukee, Dr. Burrell studied out a route up the Mississippi by train to McGregor, then by ferry across the beautiful emerald islands to Prairie du Chien, where I remained till 6 p. m. While in Dubuque Dr. Burrell took me to a galena or lead mine and I ob- tained a ponderous mass, which I shipped to Syria for the cabinet of the Syrian Protestant College. In Prairie du Chien I was greatly interested in the artesian well which spouts up warm sulphur water twenty-five feet in the air and flows through the streets. Tak- ing a sleeping car at 6 p. m., I reached Milwaukee in the morn- ing and was the guest of Mr. William Allen whose kindness has never been forgotten. Meeting Mr. and Mrs. Wm. E. Dodge at the Plankinton House in the afternoon, we drove together in a downpour of rain to the Immanuel Church, pastor Dr. G. P. Nichols, where the Board was holding its opening sessions. I sat in the rear of the church, and Mr. Dodge, vice-president of the Board, went to the platform. After a little, there was a bustle among the officers on the platform, and soon Dr. Clark came down The Antique Rug 459 to my seat and said, " Brother Jessup, we are in a sad plight. The annual sermon is to be delivered to-night and this church will be crowded but we have no preacher. Rev. Dr. Manning of Boston who was appointed telegraphed from Buffalo that he has been taken ill there en route and cannot come. What shall we do ? Will you fill the breach ? " I thought for a moment and said, " I can- not fill it, but I can stand in it and do my best, but it will not be a sermon." " All right," said Dr. Clark, and I made haste to my room at Dr. Allen's, looked over my notes, got my thoughts in order, and in the evening spoke ninety minutes to a most at- tentive audience, some of whom wanted me to " go on." But I thought it wiser to go off, for it is better that the people wish you were longer rather than wish you were shorter. Dr. Clark was effusive in his thanks and Mr. and Mrs. Dodge said, *' The Lord sent that ' washout ' on the railroad in order to bring you here." Dr. Nichols, the beloved pastor of that church, afterwards re- moved to the First Church in Binghamton where I have since been brought into the most loving and intimate relations with him. His has been a model pastorate. In~ October my old friend and pupil, Rev. Isaac Riley, died in Buffalo. He was a man of rare intellectual, spiritual, and social gifts, admired and beloved by all. On the 17th of November a memorial service was held in his old 34th Street Church, New York, and I had the privilege of adding my testimony to that of Drs. Martyn, Chambers, Hutton and Schaff to his worth and the loss to the Church and the world in his death. He did me a great favour in acting as co-editor in 1873 with Dr. Chas. S. Robinson of my little books, the " Women of the Arabs," and " Syrian Home Life." I was a guest at the house of my wife's uncle, Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, just before the Christmas holidays. One morning Mr. Dodge'asked me to go with him to the store of Johnston and Co., carpet dealers, and aid him in selecting an Oriental rug as a Christmas gift to Mrs. Dodge. One of the salesmen was very polite and soon brought a rug which he told Mr. Dodge was very 460 A Cholera Year rare, being six hundred years old ; and that the date was woven into it in the Oriental language ! I examined it and found the date in Arabic characters, 1281 of the Hegira, corresponding to the year 1865 a. d. ! I informed Mr. Dodge and then told the salesman the facts in the case and that the rug was just fourteen years old. He looked at me with undisguised disgust and did not sell that rug to Mr. Dodge for one hundred and fifty dollars. It was worth about fifteen. The salesman had evidently been taken in by his purchasing agent in the East. In December I preached one Sunday morning in a Brooklyn church in the absence of the pastor. After the service the pastor's wife asked me to dinner. On reaching the house she remarked, " I am so glad that my son was not here this morning. You certainly would have made a missionary of him ! " I said, '• My dear friend, who then can be a missionary ? Somebody's son must go. Are only orphan children bidden to go and preach the Gospel ? " She said, " I know some mother's sons must go, but I could never bear it." I did not press the question, and never met that young man until after he had been moderator of the General Assembly, and then it was quite too late to ask him to go. He was entangled in too many lines, lines he had cast and lines he had written, to admit the possibility of his becoming a student volunteer. 1879 — In the year 1879 the Syria Mission was reinforced by the arrival of five labourers, and my own return. The new labourers were Rev. Chas. Wm. Calhoun, M. D., and his sister, Miss Susan S. Calhoun, both for TripoH, and Miss Cundall for the Tripoh Girls' School ; also Rev, W. F. Johnston and his wife who were stationed with Mr. Eddy in Sidon, Mr. Johnston found the climate unfavourable and was only able to remain about six months. Miss Jackson and Miss Emily Bird returned to Syria with me November 25th.* ^ Miss Bird has never found it convenient to take a furlough, and now (1909) has been thirty years continuously on the field. Friends in England 461 Early in the year, April i6th, Rev. Gerald F. Dale, Jr., was married to Miss Mary Bliss in Beirut, and for seven and a half years their home and personal influence were a power for good in Zahleh and the Bookaa. In the month of May, 1879, before my return I was elected moderator of the General Assembly in Saratoga. In October and November, 1879, I visited England, Scotland, and Ireland with Rev. Gavin Carlyle, in the interest of the Turk- ish Mission's Aid Society, made various addresses and met many great and good men with whose names I had long been familiar; Lord Shaftesbury, Sir William Muir, with whom I kept up corre- spondence to the time of his death in 1905, the Bishop of Meath, Lord Plunkett, Drs. Johnstone, Fleming Stevenson, Rainey, the Bonars, Dr. Andrew Thomson, Dr. N. McCleod, T. Matheson Rev. Dr. McFadyen, Dr. Robson (formerly of Damascus), Dr. Knox, Lord Polworth, Mr. Geo. D. Cullen, Drs. Cairns, Davidson, McCrie, J. Robertson, Dr. Blackie, Lord Balfour, Dr. Kalley, Thos. Nelson, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, and many others. In going to Dundee in November with Rev. Gavin Carlyle, we passed over that slender, lofty, dizzy, iron bridge two miles long over the Tay. On January 8th we received word in Beirut that the Tay bridge had toppled over and fallen with a railroad train which disappeared beneath the deep waters. In 1879 certain Arabic inscriptions^ were sent to me by Prof. S. Wells Williams, the well-known Chinese scholar and mission- ary, now Professor of Chinese in Yale College. The letter of Dr. Williams enclosing them is as follows : " I have obtained a ' rubbing ' of an inscription on an incense pot of fine bronze, which I enclose to you in the hope that you can send to me a translation of it. The piece was obtained from a mosque in Peking, but I suppose the work was done in North- western China. This one has no date upon it, but I have one much like it that was made in 1506, and I think this piece is as ^The plates of these inscriptions were in ihe Foreign Missionary Mag- azine, April, 1879, and can be obtained at 156 Fifth Avenue in the library. 462 A Cholera Year old as that. The Moslems in China are accustomed to burn in- cense on the tables in their mosques much the same as the Bud- dhists do in their temples. The inscription I send you is ten times as long as any of the others I have ever seen, and I rather think the top and bottom may be a quotation from the Koran. You will be able to tell me. The use of Arabic in China is very \ limited, few besides the Mullahs or Hajjis ever learning to read, I and they do not try to speak it to any extent. The monosyllabic ' words in Chinese contract the organs of speech as a person grows old so that he is unable to pronounce words with many consonants coming together, or end a word in a dental. Words like thought, - strength, contempt, are unpronounceable by a full-grown person f and the gutturals in Arabic are as much beyond the vocal organs of most Chinese as the carols of a canary. Perhaps this inability and difficulty have had something to do with the little progress made by Islamism in China." I found, as Dr. Williams supposed, that all of the extracts were from the Koran, and in the Arabic language. The great interest of these inscriptions arises from their being in the Arabic language, the sacred language of the Koran, and thus an illustration of the manner in which the Mohammedan religion has carried the Koran throughout Asia and Northern Africa, and the Koran has carried the Arabic language. The Koran is claimed by the Moslems to have been written in i heaven by the finger of God Himself, and given to Mohammed ! by the Angel Gabriel. The inspiration is literal and verbal, and consists in the Arabic words, letters, and vowel points. The or- thodox regard it as a sin to translate the Koran. Where it has been translated or paraphrased, as in the Persian, Urdu, and Ma- layan, it must be accompanied by an interhneation of the original Arabic. The Emir Abd-er Rahman of Atcheen, in the island of Suma- tra, lately exiled by the Dutch government to Mecca on a pension of ^1,000 a month, is an Arab Mohammedan of Hadramout, and the Moslems of Sumatra use the Arabic language. The Mohammedans of India, numbering some 35,000,000, read Koran and Bible 463 their Koran in Arabic and the Urdu language is largely made up of Arabic words. The Afgans, Beloochs, Persians, Tartars, Turks, Kurds, Circassians, Bosnians, Albanians, Rumelians, Yezbeks, Arabs, Egyptians, Tunisians, Algerines, Zanzibarians, Moors, Ber- bers, Mandingoes, and other Asiatic and African tribes read their Koran, if at all, in the Arabic language. If we connect this fact with another, viz., the profound regard of the Moslems for the Old and New Testaments, we see the present and prospective importance of the Arabic translation of the Scriptures. A Mohammedan tradition says, " That in the latter day faith j will decay, a cold odoriferous wind will blow from Syria, which shall sweep away the souls of the faithful and the Koran it- self." It may be that the wind is already blowing from the steam printing-presses in Beirut, which are sending the Arabic Scrip- tures all over the Mohammedan world. After the hurried visit to Scotland we left England for Syria via Marseilles and reached home November 25th, a glad occasion for me, and I entered upon my preaching and theological teach- ing at once. The unsettled feeling of eighteen months' travelling soon vanished in the quiet and order of home. During all this absence and travelling thousands of miles I had not met with an accident and hardly a detention. Our missionary brethren and sisters and our Syrian brethren and sisters gave us a hearty and loving welcome. With Drs. Dennis and Eddy, and occasional lessons from Dr. Van Dyck, our theological faculty was fully organized. All the boarding and day-schools were prospering as never before and the country had not as yet begun to be depleted by the passion for emigration. One of the missionaries, Rev. O. J. Hardin, remarked that " in 1876, the time of the Centennial Exposition, the Syrian discovered America." He did, and he has since discovered and done his best to populate Brazil and Mexico, every one of the United 464 A Cholera Year States and territories, the Pacific Islands, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and the Transvaal. This passion for emigration is the modern awakening of the old Phoenician migrative spirit, after a Rip Van Winkle sleep of more than 2,500 years. In the olden time the mariners of Phoenicia, of Sidon and Tyre, Gebail and Arvad, braved the perils of unknown seas, penetrated the Black Sea, the Atlantic, and the coasts of Spain, and even circumnavigated Africa and in all probability founded the ancient civilization of Central America, Christianity was borne westward on this Phoenician wave. Then came a pause, and the centuries of stagnation and impo- tence, until the West came to the East, bringing new life and kindled again the old restless spirit of adventure and fortune- hunting, until now about one-twentieth of the entire population of Syria has emigrated to foreign lands. This has depleted the towns and villages of the brain and brawn of the land, weakened the little churches, carried off the graduates of the college and the boarding-schools, raised the price of labour and made it difficult in many places to find a labourer to do a day's work. Formerly a day-labourer earned twenty cents a day. Now he demands forty to fifty cents and gets it. Hundreds of emigrants have returned bringing large sums of money and have built fine modern houses, paved with marble and roofed with French tiles. And they want to have their children educated in American schools. Their old bigotry is gone. They refuse to be dictated to by priests and monks. Many are truly benefited by the change. One-third of the emi- grants die, one-third remain abroad, and one-third return. But many of those who return are demoralized by European vices and go to their old homes to die. Time only can solve the question as to whether emigration will prove a blessing or a curse to Syria. The best men, those who achieve success in America and Australia, generally remain abroad and never intend to return to Syria, thus entailing on their native land a severe material and moral loss. One of our severest trials is to see educated young Syrians, o ^ < S 1—3 ^^ z > o ^ H ^ J o Death of James Black 465 after a full theological course, dropping their work and going to foreign lands to make money easily. This seems inevitable and some day the unfolding of the divine providential plan with re- gard to this land may show us the reason why so many of Syria's choicest sons and daughters have been driven away to the ends of the earth. About one month after our return from America (December 28th) the whole city of Beirut was in mourning for Mr. James Black, the English Christian merchant who for forty-four years had held aloft the standard of commercial integrity and a godly life. He founded the Commercial Court of Beirut and was its president for years. His word was regarded as being as good as his bond. He was a churchgoing, temperate, consistent Chris- tian man, and being connected by marriage with the family of Dr. Thomson, was in warmest sympathy with the missionary work. More potent than the sermons or the tracts of missionaries has been the silent influence of men like Mr. Black, who in the temp- tations of trade, the crookedness, duplicity, and corruptness of Oriental merchants and officials, have maintained their integrity untarnished until the highest and most sacred oath a Moslem can swear, even above the oath by the beard of the Prophet, is by the word of an Englishman. The Beirut merchants to this day (1909) speak with wonder of Mr. Black's having " sworn to his own hurt and changed not." All honour to such pure-minded and upright foreigners who have thus taught corrupt and immoral men that there are men who will stand by their word even to their own loss and whose word becomes the synonym of truth, integrity and purity ! I once stood before a Moslem shop in the ancient city of Hamath and overheard a Mohammedan near by, emphasizing his word by the most solemn oath he could command, and he finally clinched his assertions by swearing " on the word of Mr. Black, the Englishman in Beirut." The winter was severe and in Kesrawan, February 12, 1880, a priest was overtaken in a storm by wolves and devoured. 466 A Cholera Year Handbills were posted on all the churches, mosques, and syna- gogues stating that an election was to take place for members of the municipality. The votes posted were : Christians of all sects 820 Moslems <« « « 440 1,260 Property owners eligible to office : Christians 461 Moslems 263 724 This indicates that the Oriental Christian sects, Greeks, Catho*^ lies, Maronites, and Protestants are about double the Moslem population in number. This would appear to give the Christians the control, but the Turkish Waly of the province is ex-officio president of the municipality and has absolute control of its funds. It often happens that by orders from Constantinople, the entire fund, amounting to thousands of dollars collected by taxation for street repairs and salaries, will be taken from the treasury and sent off to Constantinople. XXI Helps and Hindrances Mile-stones of progress — Gerald F. Dale, Jr., Memorial Sunday- School Hall — Missionaries' sons — Bereavement — Another furlough. THE history of the Dale Memorial Sunday-School Hall in Beirut is a beautiful illustration of the working of the divine Providence to secure a blessing to the chil- dren of Syria. Rev. Gerald F. Dale, Jr., had been for seven years an honoured and beloved missionary in Zahleh, Syria, when I went to America in 1878. Gerald was a family name in the Dale family of Philadelphia. His brother Henry in New York, and his wife, Dora Stokes, named their first-born and only son for the brother in Syria and the father in Philadelphia, Gerald F. Dale, Jr. In July, 1878, I spent a Sunday in Orange, N. J., and was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dale on Orange Mountain. On Sabbath p. m., July 20th, their little son Gerald came running to me and sat on my knee, and I told him about his uncle in Syria. He looked up in my face and asked, "Are you a minister?" " Yes," said I. " That's right," said he. " My Uncle Gerald is a minister. My father ought to be a minister. Every man ought to be a minister. I am going to be Rev. Dr. Dale and be a minister." Scarcely four years old, he was devoted to the Sun- day-school and went Sunday afternoon with his nurse to the little chapel on the mountain in the rear of the premises near the present residence of Mrs. John Crosby Brown, to attend the Sunday-school. He was a beautiful boy and completely won my heart. Seven months after, in February, 1879, 1 saw in a New York 467 468 Helps and Hindrances morning paper, " Died of scarlet fever Gerald F. Dale, Jr., aged four years." The anguish of those doting parents can only be known by those who have drunk the same bitter cup. A fortnight later they invited me to call, and told me they had heard of our need of a Sunday-school hall in Beirut and they would like to give the ;^2,500, which had been set apart for Gerald, to build such a hall as his memorial. We began at once to make plans and I visited Philadelphia with him to see the Bethany Sunday-school and other buildings. On reaching Beirut in November, 1879, we began the work of construction. I was greatly aided by Mr. Charles Smith, a British merchant and a fine architect, and also by Mr. Jules Loytved then connected with the British Syrian Schools. The corner- stone was laid February, 1880. The roof is supported by six stone arches and slender graceful columns and the class rooms on the two sides are separated by sliding glass doors. Within, it is bright and cheerful. Dr. Thain Davidson of London pronounced it the most beautiful Sunday-school hall he had ever seen. On December 19, 1880, the Memorial Hall was dedicated. More than 1,200 children and adults were present at the dedication and many were unable to obtain admission. Eight different Sunday-schools were represented and addresses were made by Rev. Gerald F. Dale, Jr., uncle of the little boy, Rev. Dr. W. W. Eddy and myself. Tears fell from many eyes when I told them the story of little Gerald's faith and his desire to be a minister. The singing and responsive reading of the Scriptures were not the least interesting part of the services. One of the German Lutheran deaconesses brought twenty of her orphan pupils who sang a German hymn very sweetly. The Anglo-American Sun- day-school of English and American children came in force and sang " Whiter than snow." Miss Jessie Taylor's Moslem girls were present with their snow-white veils and the Syrian Sunday- school children numbered nearly 900. The Sunday-schools ap- pointed a committee to prepare a letter of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dale. A marble tablet over the door bears the in- scription Missionaries' Sons and Daughters 469 " Suffer little children to come unto Me!' Memorial Sunday- School Hall. A memorial of Gerald F. Dale, Jr. Born August i, 18 j^. Died February 20, 18 yg, aged three and a half years. Erected by his parents Henry Dale and Dora Stokes Dale his wife. 1880. In January, 1881, another missionary's son, Rev. George A. Ford, joined the Sidon station of the mission, after an absence of sixteen years in America, studying and acting as pastor of the church at Ramapo. Up to the present time (1906) six sons of Syria missionaries have entered on the work of the Presbyterian Mission work in Syria. These are : Rev. Wm. Bird, Rev. W. K. Eddy, Rev. C. Wm. Calhoun, M. D., Rev. Geo. A. Ford, D. D., Rev. Wm. Jessup, D. D., and Prof. Stuart D. Jessup; while Rev. Howard S. Bliss, D. D., is president of the Syrian Protestant College. Their knowledge of Arabic and acquaintance with the Syrian people have made their labours most acceptable and effect- ive for good.^ Thirteen daughters of the mission have returned to work in Syria after completing their studies in America : Emily Calhoun Danforth, Emilia Thomson, Harriette M. Eddy (Hoskins), Mary Lyons, Mary Bliss (Dale), Emily Bird, Susan H. Calhoun (Ran- som), Sarah Ford, Alice Bird (Greenlee), Mary P. Eddy, M. D., Fanny M. Jessup (Swain), Amy C. Jessup (Erdman), Elsie Harris, M. D. Six of these continue now in the work, three have died, and four have left Syria. Other missionary daughters living in Syria, not under official appointment, have rendered services as teachers in the mission schools : Misses Lizzie Van Dyck, Anna H. Jessup, Carrie Hardin (Post), and especially Miss Effie S. Hardin, who for years has given her efficient help in the boys' school in Suk el Gharb. ^ Other sons of Syria missionaries are missionaries in other countries ; Mr. Edward Ford in West Africa, Rev. Frederick N. Jessup in Tabriz, Persia, Bertram Post, M. D., in Robert College, Constantinople, Wilfred Post, M. D., in Turkey, Arthur March in China. 470 Helps and Hindrances The year 1881 was marked by the visit of scores of eminent men in the Church in America and England, many of whom oc- cupied the pulpit of the Anglo-American Congregation on Sun- day. Among them were Dr. A. Erdman, Dr. Theodore Cuyler, and Canon H. B. Tristram. Dr. Dennis returned in December from a six months' health trip to America. The theological class was continued through the academic year. In January, 1882, Mrs. Ford, mother of Rev. Geo. A. Ford, having returned from America, was stationed, as was Miss Bessie M. Nelson (daughter of Dr. Henry A. Nelson) in Sidon, and the Sidon Girls' Seminary was carried on by Misses Eddy and Nelson. In April a theological seminary building was begun on the college campus through the generous aid of Mr. A. L. Dennis of Newark, N. J., the ground having been given to the Board of Missions by the college trustees. The building was dedicated December 18, 1883, and continued to be occupied by the mission theological seminary for ten years, when it was sold to the college, and named Morris K. Jesup Hall. The theological class was transferred as a summer school to Suk el Gharb, Mount Lebanon, where it continued until 1905, when it was reopened in Beirut on the new mission premises adjoining Dale Memorial Hall. In December the mission voted to organize three presbyteries, in Sidon, Tripoli, and Lebanon with Beirut. These three presby- teries have proved a success, but they have no organic connec- tion with the General Assembly in America. When the time comes, there may be a General Assembly in Syria and Egypt. After twenty-four years of experience the Syrian pastors and elders have proved themselves competent to transact business and to stimulate each other in the matter of self-support. In the spring of this year the Lord's hand was heavy upon our household. The season was cold and stormy. Three of the children had been ill for some weeks with influenza and fever and their mother was ceaseless in her watch over them and was soon attacked with the same malady. On the evening of March 19th, Bereavement 471 Mr. George Muller, of Bristol, who had made several addresses to old and young in our Beirut church, held a meeting at the house of Mrs. A. Mentor Mott. I attended it and came home at 9 P. M., to find the dear one suffering from inflammation of the throat. She soon got relief but it developed into pleurisy and after apparent recovery, she suddenly suffered collapse on the evening of April 5th, and passed away so quickly that her sister, Mrs. Hardin, our guest, could hardly reach her bedside before she was gone. The shock was like paralysis to me. Friends were never more loving, sympathetic, and kind. The five younger children, the oldest only twelve, were like little angels around me. Dear Dr. Eddy, my colleague, took the little ones to his house and was like a brother. My little son Stuart spoke such words of comfort to me that I seemed uplifted and sustained. One day he said, " Perhaps we loved mamma too much and idolized her." Brother Samuel and Mr. Hardin came down from Tripoli. On the 25th a missionary conference of eighty missionaries and native helpers was held in the Memorial Hall, and being asked to preside my thoughts were fully occupied for a week. Meantime four of the children had measles, requiring careful nursing, but all made a speedy recovery. The members of the mission advised my going at once to America, and after much prayer and consultation, I reluctantly decided to go ; and after many sad parting scenes and strenuous labours in handing over my work of editing, proof-reading, and teaching, and preaching to Drs. Eddy and Van Dyck, we sailed June 15th for Marseilles. Before our departure, a missionary meeting was held in Beirut at which Rev. Gerald F. Dale, Jr., was present. Mr. Dale had at his disposal a fund of ^10,000 which he offered to the Syrian Protestant College as a scholarship fund on condition that ^20,000 additional be raised. I was requested by the college to raise that sum and I did it while in America. Rumours had reached Syria of the Arabi Pasha Rebellion in Egypt, and on our arrival in Port Said on the 17th we had start- 47 2 Helps and Hindrances ling evidence of its reality. An Austrian steamer was in port en route from Alexandria to Beirut with 2,200 refugees going to Syria for safety. The decks were so thickly packed that men could scarcely lie down. Three infants had been born in the night. The captain said to a man who called to him from a shore boat, " The Lord deliver us from fire." I heard afterwards that they reached Beirut in safety, where both Moslems and Chris- tians united in providing food and lodging for them. We reached Alexandria Sunday a. m., June i8th. The ships and steamers in the harbour were literally black with crowds of refugees ; and lines of boats filled the port, carrying men, women, and children, pale with fright, to the sailing craft of every de- scription. Six overloaded steamers left for Greece, Naples, Malta, and Marseilles. Three thousand Maltese had already gone to Malta. The panic was universal. Last Sunday, July nth, was Black Sunday. Forty Europeans and 150 native Chris- tians were killed by the Moslem mob in Alexandria. Admiral Seymour of the British fleet came on board our steamer to see our travelling companion, Mr. Berkeley, M. P., and told us of his narrow escape on Sunday. He was on shore with the French admiral paying calls. Suddenly the driver of their carriage stopped, jumped down, and ran back. A furious mob was rush- ing down the street with guns and clubs, killing every Christian. The consular janizary who was with them told them to get out and run for their lives, and down they went, the two admirals, double quick, and were just able to enter the iron gate of the port office and close the door, when the howling mob arrived. The port officer called a boat and off they went, glad to reach their floating castles alive. The riot was a general conspiracy and broke out in several places at once. All the American missionaries from Cairo, Assioot, and other places were on board the American frigate Galena, Captain Bachelor, where I went with my son Stuart to see them. They were awaiting passage to Malta and America. Seven trains a day were bringing down refugees from Cairo and Upper Egypt. Egypt was in a reign of terror. Arabi Pasha 473 Arabi Pasha was in command in Cairo, and his troops held the forts south of Alexandria harbour. The khedive with a loyal officer, Derwish Pasha, was in the Ras-el-Tin Palace on the north side of the harbour. Arabi, who professed to be advocating a patriotic work of " Egypt for the Egyptians " as against the Albanian dynasty of Mohammed Ali and his successors, raised the cry of •' Ya Islam " and it was reported that in his excitement on entering a mosque he said that he would not rest till the streets of Cairo ran with Christian blood. At all events his fol- lowers tried it in Alexandria and provoked the intervention of England. England proposed to France a joint occupation and that Turkey denounce Arabi as a rebel and then send a detach- ment of troops to cooperate with the English army and navy. The Sultan declined to denounce Arabi and the French declined to send troops, so Admiral Seymour and Lord Wolsley were left to cope single handed with the rebellion. Arabi's troops went on entrenching in the forts south of the harbour, until at length the British fleet bombarded them. July nth and 1 2th Arabi's troops withdrew from the city and there was another massacre of Europeans and the European quarter of the city burned. In September the English army entered the Suez Canal and occu- pied Port Said and Ismailiyeh. M. de Lesseps protested against the passage of the army but in vain. Arabi hastened towards Ismailiyeh and camped at Tel el Kebir. Here his sleeping army was surprised after midnight by Lord Wolsley 's army, who, with- out warning, opened fire on the camp with shot and shell. Arabi's troops were panic stricken. A few fought bravely but all were soon in complete rout. Arabi and officers escaped to Cairo on a special train. An English cavalry officer with a small detachment galloped along the edge of the desert to Cairo, sur- prised the sentinel at the citadel and summoned the commander to surrender. The garrison laid down their arms and were bidden to disperse to their homes. On the arrival of Wolsley's army, September 14th, Arabi surrendered, was tried and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to banishment to Ceylon. Lord Dufferin came to Egypt. The whole civil and police sys- 474 Helps and Hindrances terns were readjusted and reformed. Law, order and justice soon put an end to the bastinado, extortion, cruel oppression and bribery, and Egypt entered upon a career of unexampled progress and prosperity. June 2 1st we sailed from Alexandria, reached Naples June 24th and Marseilles the 26th, North of Corsica we saw twelve whales. Whales have often been seen in the Eastern Mediterra- nean and the carcases of two large ones were thrown up on the shore near Tyre. The skull of one of them is in the museum of the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. We passed through Paris and spent July 4th in London. The day was made memo- rable by a drawing-room meeting at Mr. Stanley's, Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park, where my old friend, Canon H. B. Tristram of Dur- ham, presented to me, on behalf of the teachers and pupils of the British Syrian Schools in Syria, a beautiful silver inkstand with a suitable inscription. Many friends of the schools were present, and the occasion was very affecting to me and very comforting. From the year i860 until now (1909), it has always been my delight to visit the British Syrian Schools, counsel and pray with the teachers, and address the pupils. From 1861 to 1892 I was superintendent of the Beirut Sunday-school which was always at- tended by about one hundred girls of these schools. I have always been a man of peace and have striven to keep all the missionary forces in Syria in full cooperation with each other, and was a warm friend of Mrs. J. Bowen Thompson and her three sisters, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Mentor Mott, and Miss Lloyd, and their successors in the direction of the schools, especially Miss Caroline Thompson, the present (1907) capable and consecrated head of the schools in Syria. Sectarian discord has no right to enter mis- sionary ground. We should seek out our common points of agreement and relegate our paltry denominational differences to oblivion. Foreign missionaries should work together. Moham- medans and heathen care nothing and understand little of our peculiar differences and are alienated and repelled by them. Protestant missionaries and the Syrian evangelical churches are known throughout the land as " enjeeliyeen " or gospel evangel- Cooperation in Mission Work 475" icals. The exclusiveness and narrow sectarianism of certain ultra ritualists on the one hand and non-ritualists on the other, have confused the Oriental mind and given occasion to the enemies of the Gospel to rejoice. I have opposed introducing the word Presbyterian into the Arabic language and the Arabic Evangelical Church. We call our presbytery " El Mejmaa el Meshkhy," the Elders' Assembly. We do not need the Greek word for elder when we have the Arabic term sheikh used in the Acts and the Epistles. The Presbyterian order of government seems well adapted to the Syrians and they are proving themselves capable of managing their own church assemblies, but we desire that it be kept free from sectarian names and tendencies, as the simple Gospel is by far the best weapon and the best name in commend- ing evangelical religion to the priest-ridden people of the Oriental Churches and the intensely ritualistic followers of Islam. We rejoice in the cooperation of the managers and teachers of the British Syrian Mission, the Moslem and Druse Girls' School of Miss Jessie Taylor, the Church of Scotland Mission of Dr. Mackie and the German pastor and the deaconesses, the mission- aries of the Church Missionary Society in Palestine, and the British and American Friends' Society in Brummana and Ramul- lah. Bishop Blyth, the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem, is trying to build up a wall between his constituency and all non-Episcopal Christians in Palestine and Syria, and to fraternize with the ec- clesiastics of the Orthodox Greek " Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre " who annually and openly deceive thousands of pil- grims with the Satanic farce of the so-called " Holy Fire." Bishop Blyth is a genial and lovable man, and I cannot understand how he can fraternize with such a set of shameless impostors as the monks and bishops of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. I have spoken of this elsewhere in the chapter on the organization of the Syrian Evangelical Church. Rev. Dr. Craig of the Religious Tract Society came to our lodgings and took my children to the British and South Kensing- ton Museums and to the Zoo. We were all deeply touched by his kindness and his tender attentions to my flock of little ones. 47^ Helps and Hindrances Mrs. Tristram also took charge of shopping for them and fitted them out for the Atlantic voyage. July 6th we sailed on the City of Berlin for New York. We had a rough passage but I was able to preach on Sunday evening, July 9th, and to lecture on Egypt July 14th. We reached New York Sunday p. m., July i6th. On the i8th we went through by the D. L. & W. R. R. to Montrose and were met at the station by the three older children, Anna, William and Henry, and soon reached the old homestead where mother was still living. She was then eighty-four years of age. How delightful to look on her face once more, and to see her sitting with her knitting work in her favourite armchair by the window, happy in being surrounded by so many of her children and grandchildren. I took the chil- dren to the lawn under the ancient apple trees, and to the old garret filled with so many quaint relics of the past, to the apple orchard and the garden, and from time to time to the blackberry patches, the " High Rocks," to Jones Lake and Silver Lake, to Fall Brook and the Salt Springs. We roamed over the farm and at times brought milk, butter, and cream to the homestead. I lived over my childhood and had ample time to review my life of fifty years. Relatives and friends were kind and sympathizing to the last degree, and the summer passed rapidly away. Calls for addresses poured in upon me and as the events passing in the Nile Valley engrossed public attention I was obliged to prepare an address on that subject which was finally published in the Foreign Mission- ary. On the 9th of August at the request of Dr. Ellinwood I at- tended the missionary convention of the Synod of New Jersey at Asbury Park, where I stayed at Dr. Ford's sanitarium and met Dr. Nevius of China, Dr. H. A. Nelson, Dr. A. A. Hodge, and others. Dr. Nevius gave great umbrage to the ladies by saying that in foreign missions he knew no difference between work for men and work for women. Had he lived in lands where the women are secluded in hareems and zenanas, he would have probably appreciated better the need of women's work for women. I met one singular character, Mangasarian, a protege of Dr. A. A. A. A. Hodge's Proteg^ 477 Hodge, who in a flaming address professed great desire to go to Turkey to preach to the Mohammedan Turks, yet when after the session Dr. Hodge assured him there were many Armenian Prot- estant Churches in Asia Minor which would be glad to welcome him as their pastor, he declared that he could not and would not go, as the Turks would surely kill him. He afterwards became a freethinker, derided Orthodox Christianity and the Bible, and forsook the Christian faith. Dr. Hodge told me in November that this Mangasarian wrote and begged him to obtain for him pulpits to supply as he was in great need. " So," said Dr. Hodge, " I commended him to Mr. Alexander in a New Jersey town. He went there, and on Monday I received a letter from Mr. Alexander as follows : ' Dear Dr. Hodge : If you have no bet- ter men than this Mangasarian please send us no more preachers. He abused the Board of Missions and Princeton Seminary, and declared that all the professors were stupid dolts.' So I wrote to Mangasarian and insisted that he come to me at once. He came and I read him Mr. Alexander's letter and rebuked him severely and said, 'How dare you abuse your own professors?' He blandly replied, ' Why, doctor, I didn't say much. I only said what all the students say ! ' " On this Dr. Hodge laughed heartily and said to me, " You can do nothing with such a man. Hereafter I shall let him alone to shift for himself." His career should be a lesson to theological faculties in Amer- ica not to admit foreign adventurers as students without proper testimonials as to their character and religious history. During the summer Messrs. W. A. Booth and D. Stuart Dodge, trustees of the Syrian Protestant College, invited me to remove to New York and undertake the raising of the twenty thousand dollar scholarship fund in order to secure the fund of ^10,000 con- ditionally offered by Rev. G. F. Dale, Jr., of Zahleh. Before visiting the Synods of Indiana, New Jersey and Penn- sylvania, I removed the younger children under the care of my eldest daughter, October 4th, to New York. On December lOth my son Stuart and my daughter Mary united with the Church of the Covenant, pastor Dr. Marvin R. Vincent. 478 Helps and Hindrances That winter was a strenuous one to me. Lectures, addresses, sleeping-car travelling, meeting theological students in Union, Auburn, Princeton and Allegheny, preparing matter for the Foreign Missionary Magazine and interviewing individuals with reference to the scholarship fund, kept me under a constant strain. November 7th I attended the reception given by the Board of Foreign Missions in Centre Street to Sir Richard Temple, for- merly a provincial governor in India. As our Board, with its intensely conservative traditional policy, had neither stenographer nor typewriter, I took pencil notes of Sir Richard's address which were afterwards published. After the interview I accompanied him to call on ex-Secretary of State Evarts, then to the Cooper Institute and the Windsor Hotel. As he was to sail immedi- ately, I sent to his hotel the report of his address. He took it with him on the steamer, corrected the manuscript and returned it by mail for publication. The reluctance of those wise brethren at 23 Centre Street to allow typewriters, stenographers, etc., nearly sacrificed the life of Dr. Ellinwood and gave a wrench to my nervous sys- tem such as I have never known. On December 2d Dr. Ellin- wood, by his physician's order, sailed on the Britannic for Eng- land, and I was appointed to take his place during his absence. I consented, and from nine to four worked daily at the office and generally took great packages of unanswered letters home with me, to work over them into the small hours of the night. I had no conception until that time of the labours of a foreign mission- ary secretary. You enter your office at 8 : 30 or 9 a. m., and find twenty or more letters and documents from home and foreign correspondents. There are mission votes requiring immediate attention of the Board ; long missionary journals, from which portions are to be selected for publication ; letters from pastors, 100 or 200 miles away, asking for a rousing sermon next Sunday, as it is foreign missions annual collection, and also a talk to a children's meeting ; confidential letters from young men and women in seminaries, asking numerous questions about enlist- ment in the work ; suggestions from pastors as to needed im- The Secretary Sinecure 479 provements in the Monthly Missionary Magazine ; requests for leaflets and missionary Hterature, etc., etc. You arrange these letters and are preparing to consult the venerable secretaries about the foreign documents when in comes a theological student anxious to have full and free talk about going abroad, selection of fields, special preparation, etc. ; then comes a pastor full of zeal and suggestions ; then a book agent gets by Treasurer Rankin's door and up-stairs and literally bombards you with his torrent of eloquence and you curtly refer him to the business agent in the basement ; then a telegram proposing a missionary convention in a Western state four weeks hence and asking the address of returned missionaries ; then another telegram that good Brother A. of the B. mission is on board the steamer coming up the harbour with a sick wife and his children, and asking that he may be met and advised where to go on his arrival ; then a young lady from a well-known college comes to have a good talk about the propriety of taking a medical course before going abroad, etc., etc., until twelve o'clock comes. The other officers are starting out for lunch. You go with them and after a too hasty meal return to find another mail has come in. You bend to your work, write a dozen letters and telegrams, copy your letters in the screw copying-press, fold them, direct them, stamp them, and as it is growing dark, gather up your documents and papers, hurry to the ferry, take the Princeton train, address the students in the evening, and return on the earliest morning train to go through the treadmill again. I asked the older officials why they did not have stenographers and typewriters. They thought it a needless expense. " Such things never have been used and why use the Lord's money for them now ? " I went to see Mr. Booth and other members of the Board. I felt that this grinding system had nearly killed Dr. Ellinwood and Mr. Booth agreed with me. I wrote to Dr. El- linwood not to consent to go on with his arduous work on his return unless he was supplied with a stenographer and type- writer. The point was carried after his return. During November and December I visited Wilkesbarre where 480 Helps and Hindrances Mr. J. W. Hollenback gave me ^1,200 for a college scholarship; Orange, where Mr. L. P. Stone and Egbert Starr each gave two scholarships ; Pittsburg, where I addressed the Allegheny stu- dents and dined with that blessed steward of the Lord, William Thaw. He gave me ^2,400 for two scholarships, with that beau- tiful smile that lighted up his face when doing a kind act. He thanked me for coming and said that he felt it to be a privilege to have part in the Lord's work in Syria. I went thence to Cincinnati and Lane Seminary, attended a missionary convention, and spent Sunday with Dr. Nelson at Geneva, N. Y. ; visited Auburn, met several missionary candi- dates and called on Dr. Willard, another of God's stewards, who, like Mr. Dodge and Mr. Thaw, abounded in good works. On the morning of December 20, 1882, as I entered the mis- sion house Mr. W. Rankin said to me, •' When do you leave for Persia ? " I replied, " Never, that I know of. If I live to cross the sea again it will be for my Syrian home and work." He then asked me, " Have you read the morning papers ? " I re- plied, that for a wonder I had not. Handing me the New York Tribune he said, " Read that ! " I read, " President Arthur has appointed Rev. Henry H. Jessup, D. D., of Syria, to be first United States Minister to Persia, and sent the nomination to the Senate." I said to Mr. Rankin, " Whose work was that ? Who sent my name to President Arthur ? " He said he could think of no more likely person than Dr. Irenaeus Prime of the New York Observer, who was a warm personal friend of President Arthur. I went up to my office and shut the door and prayed for wisdom that I might get out of this complication before it went any further. I thought it over. Yes, I had met Dr. Prime at Chi Alpha re- cently, and he very incidentally asked me if I spoke Persian, to which I replied in the negative. I made haste, by the City Hall, down to the Obsei-ver office. Dr. Prime was out. Dr. Stod- dard explained that Dr. Prime had written to President Arthur about the Persian Legation and used my name. I went back to the mission house, wrote to Dr. Prime, stated that I could not ac- Appointed Minister to Persia 481 cept it, that I was not qualified for a diplomatic post and that I would not give up preaching the Gospel. I also telegraphed to Secretary of State F. T. Frelinghuysen, as follows : •' Please tender to President Arthur my cordial thanks for the high honour conferred upon me by the nomination to the Persian court, but it is impossible for me to accept." Dr. Prime wrote to the chair- man of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, explaining why I declined. He received at once an answer, " Please send Dr. Jessup on to Washington. The committee would like to see a man who does not regard himself as qualified for an office. We have never seen one." I did not go, either to Washington or Teheran, but in 1903 was glad to send my youngest son Frede- rick to Tabriz, in Persia, as Christ's ambassador to that dark em- pire. I have not ceased to be thankful that I declined that post. A missionary's son, Mr. Benjamin, the well-known writer, received the appointment and after serving his country efficiently, pub- lished a valuable book on Persia. In January, 1883, in addition to the office work in Centre Street, I visited Chicago, Wilmington, Hartford, and Brooklyn. On the 7th of February Dr. Ellinwood returned much refreshed by his journey by sea and land. On Thursday evening, the 8th, I lec- tured in the chapel of Dr. Cuthbert Hall's First Church in Brook- lyn on the Egyptian crisis. Before going to Brooklyn I called on Mr. Wm. E. Dodge, who was somewhat indisposed. Imme- diately on my return to 35th Street at 9 a. m., I hastened to Mr. Dodge's house only two blocks away and to my surprise was met at the door by Edward, the faithful family servant, with the words, " Dr. Jessup, Mr. Dodge is dead ! " He had died suddenly of heart disease. I found his sons Stuart, Charles, and Arthur, and several relatives. To me the shock was stunning. I went to my room and by 2 p. m. had a sinking sensation which alarmed the children. The doctor came and pronounced it nervous prostra- tion. I was ordered to bed and to absolute quiet for a long period. I had numerous appointments to speak in Baltimore and other cities but the doctor ordered them all cancelled. 482 Helps and Hindrances Mr, Dodge's funeral was February 12th, within a block of my lodgings, and Dr. Vincent had asked me to assist at the exercises, but I could not leave my bed. The throng was very great and at its close Dr. EUinwood, Dr. H. M. Field, and Drs. Clark and A. C. Thompson of the American Board called to see me. The death of Mr. Dodge was a public calamity. He was so eminent as a Christian merchant, patriot, and philanthropist, that no New Yorker was more widely known. He was a lifelong friend of missions, home and foreign, a champion of temperance, of commanding presence, an eloquent speaker, and the simple piety of his family life, his family altar, his strict Sabbath observance, and his lovely winning manner made him such a father and hus- band and friend as few homes can boast. Several of his sons and grandsons caught his spirit and are, like him, a blessing to the world. Mrs. Dodge was no less eminent in all purely evangelical and philanthropic work and survived him long, beloved and honoured. Syrian letters from Drs. Dennis, S. Jessup, and W. W. Eddy gave full particulars of the death of our promising young mission- ary physician, Charles William Calhoun. Dr. Dennis said, " He was born in Syria, son of Rev. Simeon Howard Calhoun and was thirty-three years of age at the time of his death. He had the advantages of the early training of his honoured father, and was educated at Williams College, the Union Theological Seminary, and the University Medical School of New York. He came to Syria in the fullness of his strength and with a hearty consecra- tion to the service of Christ in the land of his birth. He was connected with the Tripoli station for four years ; and such years of enthusiastic work and abounding services, both to the souls and bodies of the people of that wide Northern field ! "His death occurred at Shwifat near Beirut, June 22, 1883. He had recently returned from a long tour in Northern Syria and the Zahleh field with Mr. Dale and seemed to have contracted a malarial fever of a malignant type which proved fatal. His mother entered the sick-room early in the morning soon after the watcher for the night had left, and thinking him to be asleep, sat for some Deaths of Charles Calhoun and Butrus Bistany 483 time in the presence of death, without knowing the true cause of the patient's strange stillness. She finally approached him and ivas stunned by the painful discovery that his spirit had taken its flight homeward. He was ' the only son of his mother and she a widow.' The only sign that his spirit left to give a hint of the final scene was a placid and heavenly expression on his face as if he had met death with a smile, as he passed into rest. The fu- neral services were held in Shwifat and the next day in Beirut." Dr. Samuel Jessup said, " When his medical practice had greatly increased and his surgical skill had attracted attention, he was in 1882 obliged by the government through the intrigues of a rival physician to leave Tripoli. He spent the time in touring, and visited Constantinople where he obtained an imperial Turkish diploma that gave him the right to practice anywhere in the em- pire. He returned to Tripoli and seemed entering on a career of great usefulness when he was prostrated by fever." He was genial, courteous, full of good humour, a most skillful surgeon, familiar with the Arabic colloquial from his childhood. These traits made him very popular. He could sleep anywhere, on a mat or on the ground, and eat the coarsest and most unpal- atable Arab food with a relish. His consistent Christian walk and self-denying labours exem- plified the religion he professed and preached. Death of Muallim Butrus el Bistany The Syrian Evangelical Church and the Syrian people of all classes suffered a great loss in the death of Mr. Butrus el Bistany^ May I, 1883. He was the most learned, industrious, and success- ful as well as the most influential man of modern Syria. He was born in Dibbiyeh, Mount Lebanon, nine miles north- east of Sidon, of Maronite parentage, and studied the Arabic and Syriac under a Maronite priest, Michaiel Bistany, during the rule of the famous Emir Bushir. He afterwards entered the patriarchal clerical school at the monastery of Ain Wurka where he studied Arabic grammar, rhetoric, logic, history, with Latin, Syriac, and Italian. 484 Helps and Hindrances About the year 1840 he found, in reading the Syriac Testa- ment, the doctrine of justification by faith, and leaving his monastic retreat, fled to Beirut, where he entered the house of Dr. Eh Smith for protection. For two years he was a prisoner, not venturing outside the gates, lest he be shot by spies of the Maronite patriarch. From that time he became an invaluable helper to the American missionaries, and in 1846 began to help Dr. Van Dyck in the newly founded Abeih Seminary. During this period he prepared a school arithmetic which is still a standard work in Arabic. He then removed to Beirut and be- came dragoman (interpreter and clerk) to the American con- sulate and assistant to Dr. EH Smith in the translation of the Bible, continuing on this work until the death of Dr. Smith in 1857. He then published two Arabic dictionaries, the " Muhit el Muhit," a comprehensive work in two octavo volumes of 1,200 pages each, and the " Kotr el Muhit" an abridgment of the former, which were finished in 1869. In i860 after the massacres, when thousands of refugees were crowded into Beirut, he published a weekly sheet of advice (the Nefeer) to the Syrian people, calling them to union and coopera- tion in reconstructing their distracted and almost ruined country. In 1862 he founded the " Madriset el Wataniyet" or National School on his own premises, receiving aid from English and American friends. The school continued for about fifteen years and trained a large number of youth of all sects and from all parts of the land. The Sultan Abdul Hamid II, on receiving copies of his dictionary, sent him a present of two hundred and fifty pounds sterling and a decoration of the third class of the Medjidiyeh and another decoration in view of his founding the " National School." He also founded \.h.Q Jenan, a fortnightly literary magazine which his son Selim Effendi edited and also the Jenneh, a semi-weekly journal and the Je^ieineh, a daily which continued three years. In 1875 he began his great literary work, the " Daierat el Maarif," an Arabic encyclopedia, in twelve volumes, of which six were finished at the time of his death, May ist, 1883, and four M. Bistany's Literary Achievements 485 more were finished by his sons, but unfortunately it has never been completed. It is a compilation and translation of the best French, English, and American encyclopedias, and the geo- graphical and historical parts are enriched from the best works of the most eminent Arabic authors. The illustrations were furnished by Messrs. Appleton & Co. of New York and the book as far as printed is a monument of industry and literary ability. The Viceroy of Egypt subscribed for 500 sets of this encyclo- pedia and his list of Syrian subscribers embraced pashas, patri- archs, bishops, priests, mudirs, muftis, kadis, sheikhs, merchants, farmers, teachers, students, monks, and the foreign missionaries throughout Syria and India, as well as learned scholars in Germany, France, England, and America. He also published works on bookkeeping, Arabic grammar, and translated into Arabic the " Pilgrim's Progress," " D'Aubigne's Reformation," " Edward's History of Redemption," and " Robin- son Crusoe." He was one of the original members of the Beirut church, and an elder for thirty-five years. He was also for twenty years president of the Native Evangelical Society. For years he aided in the preaching and in the Sunday-school, and was looked to for addresses on all important occasions. In 1882 he preached twice, on " I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord," and " Fear not, little flock." His wife Raheel Ata, a pupil of Mrs. Sarah Huntington Smith, was the first girl taught to read in Syria, and her home until her death was known as a model Christian home. He died suddenly May i, 1883, of heart disease, pen in hand, surrounded by his books and manuscripts. The funeral was conducted in the American Mission Church by the missionaries and the crowd was almost unprecedented. Remarkable tributes were paid to his memory. When he first came to Beirut the Maronite patriarch set a price on his head. When he died Gregorius, Papal Greek Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, wrote to his son a most affectionate letter stating that " the whole nation mourns your father's death. 486 Helps and Hindrances Literature, education, learning, and every good cause laments his departure. He was a dear friend and a brother to us all, and but for the hope that you his son will fill his place and complete his work, we would be inconsolable." Truly the world moves and bigotry loses its power. His son Selim Effendi only survived him a few months, having died suddenly in September, 1884, The publication of the encyclopedia was then continued by his son Najib Effendi until ten volumes had been printed. Since then the want of funds, and the rigorous press laws which require two copies in manuscript of every book to be printed to be sent to Constantinople for sanction have prevented the com- pletion of the book. To make two copies of a book of 1,000 pages and then wait months and perhaps years for their return, is enough to discourage authors and publishers. The book may yet be completed in Egypt. In September I had interviews with Ira Harris, M. D,, on the train to New York, and he decided to go to Syria to take up the work of the lamented Dr. Chas. W. Calhoun who died in June ; and with Miss M. C. Holmes who was preparing to go to the school in Tripoli. I also met during the summer Mr. Hoskins, Mr, R. H. West, and Dr. Kay, all preparing to go to the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. October 2d I set out on a four weeks' tour to the Synods of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Ohio. At Topeka I found Mr. Howard S. Bliss, son of our college president and my old comrade for thirty years, little thinking that at this time (1906), he would have succeeded his revered father in the Syrian Protes- tant College. I visited Emporia, Topeka, Park College, St. Joseph, Atchison, Kansas City, St. Louis, Alton, Springfield, Mo., Clinton, la., Bloomington and Joliet, Oxford, O., Wooster and Ann Arbor Universities, and was so refreshed by meeting so many consecrated and noble Christian men and women that I forgot the fatigues of the journey. At the Synod of Missouri at Springfield, I laid before the First Gift for Korea 487 people the loud call just received for missionaries to begin a mis- sion to Korea, which the Board had asked me to present to the churches. I saw in the congregation the apostle of home mis- sions, Rev. Dr. Timothy Hill, who had founded more churches in the West and South than any living man. At the close of my remarks he stepped up to the pulpit and handing me a twenty dollar gold piece, said, " Here is from home missions to foreign missions ! Let that go to the mission in Korea ! " I took it on to New York and it was the first gift, or among the first, for that mission which is a crown of rejoicing in the missionary world to-day. Truly the missionary spirit is one at home and abroad ! I had travelled 5,333 miles without a detention or accident and on my return to the old homestead found the children well. In November I visited South Hadley College and Wellesley College, called on my sons, William and Henry, at Princeton College, and returned to Montrose to fix up the old homestead for winter quarters, as it sometimes happens that in that high beech woods region they have ninety continuous days of snow. In December I attended a missionary convention in Chicago of 800 medical students, young men and women, which lasted two days. We had the help of Mr. Wishard, Dr. Henry M. Scudder, Mr. Farwell, Mr. Blatchford, and Dr. Dowkontt. Thence I went to a missionary convention at Parsons College, Fairfield, Iowa, and returned via Buffalo and Binghamton to Montrose. In Syria various changes had taken place. Dr. Ira Harris and Miss Holmes reached Tripoli to take the places of Dr. Calhoun who died June 22d in Shwifat, and Miss Cundall. Mr. March was transferred from Zahleh to Tripoli and Dr. Samuel Jessup from Tripoli to Beirut. When Dr. Samuel Jessup of Tripoli announced to his friends there that he was about to re- move to Beirut where he would have charge of the press and be relieved from the long horseback rides of the wide Tripoli field, the leading Moslems, Greeks, and Maronites proposed to unite in a petition to the missionary authorities to have him retained among them. When told that he could not longer bear the 488 Helps and Hindrances I work of itineracy they replied, " Then let him stay here and just sit, and let us come and look at him. That will be enough." Dr. Arthur Mitchell, in alluding to this incident, said, " His faith- ful service of twenty years had proved a living evangel known i and read of all men." Messrs. West and Hoskins joined the teaching staff of the Syrian Protestant College, Miss Sarah A. Ford was stationed in Sidon and Mr. Greenlee in Zahleh with Mr. Dale. On December 6th Mr. Michaiel Araman died in Beirut. He was for thirty years a teacher and a preacher — a translator and an officer of the church. For years he taught in Abeih and then in the girls' boarding-school in Beirut. He was a faithful teacher, a kind father, and an exemplary Christian. December 16, 1883, W. Carslaw, M. D., of Shweir, of the Free Church of Scotland, was ordained by the presbytery as an evangelist. The new theological hall on the college campus was dedicated and occupied December i8th. In April, 1884, Rev. Gerald F. Dale and family left for America and he and his wife were called to suffer the trial of burying their infant daughter Lizzie, May 3d, in Alexandria. January 31, 1884, a missionary convention was held in Bing- hamton. Dr. Elhnwood and Dr. Arthur Mitchell, who had just accepted the position of secretary of the Board of Foreign Mis- sions, were present. In spite of a severe rain and snow-storm the attendance was good. Mrs. Laiya Barakat spoke at the women's meeting. I attended the meeting and sat in the rear of the church, partly behind a pillar, and as I listened to her earnest words, recalled the time twelve years before, when as a sewing girl she used to come to me in Abeih, her native village, and re- peat from memory Arab nursery rhymes by the score. The emigration and scattering of the youth of Syria fills me with as- tonishment, and the query often arises. What does it all mean? Time will reveal the mystery. February 3d I preached in the " coloured " Zion church in Montrose. The negroes have a strong church, and their pastor, George Washington, asked me to preach and remain for the prayer-meeting afterwards. I knew niost of the congregation Old Booey 489 and a book might be written about their eccentric ways. They once had a meeting " to decide what colour they should white- wash the meetin' house." In front of the pulpit was the most extraordinary character of all, Old Booey. He was short and heavy, with large eyes and a mouth of vast size, seeming to ex- tend almost from ear to ear. He was a man of great power and voice in prayer, and his original sayings became proverbial in the town. He drove a " one hoss " rickety wagon around the county collecting bones, which he " toted " to the railroad station and when he had enough, shipped them by the carload to Phila- delphia. One day he drove up to a lone farmhouse, hobbled up to the door and knocked. The farmer's wife came to the door and looked on his glaring eyes and he exclaimed, " I've come for your bones ! " She thought her time had surely come, and slammed the door in his face. She locked it and watched him from the window as he went around the back yard gathering up old bones which he threw into his wagon and drove away. I had known Booey for many years. He listened to my sermon on the Gadarene demoniac and the description of the Sea of Galilee, and as a fellow preacher, nodded patronizingly. After the sermon, the pastor called on the brethren to pray. Booey stepped forward into the aisle, kneeled down, and began in a weird sepulchral voice that seemed to send the cold chills through me, and at length said, " Oh, Lord, keep us all dis night, but if it should please Thee that Thy humble servant should never see another day, but this night should be his last and I should enter into Thy great glory, oh, Lord, won't Satan be disappointed of his great expectations ! " " Amen ! Amen ! " shouted the brethren and I joined with them, " Amen ! " That prayer was solemn and pathetic, and some years after, the good man entered into glory and Satan lost his victim. In March I visited Baltimore, spoke in Brown Memorial Church and lectured before the students of Johns Hopkins by invitation of my friend, Dr. Daniel Gilman. I then went to Washington and on March 22d called, by ap- pointment, with Dr. Stuart Dodge, Hon. W. Walter Phelps, and 490 Helps and Hindrances Judge William Strong, on President Arthur and Secretary of State F. T. Frelinghuysen with reference to certain outrages upon American citizens in Asia Minor. On Sunday I preached twice in the New York Avenue Church and met many old friends. Owing to the death of Rev. Dr. Hatfield, retiring moderator of the General Assembly, the stated clerk requested me to preach the opening sermon of the General Assembly at Saratoga in May. As I went back to Syria in 1879 without preaching the sermon the following year, it was only fair that I fill the breach this year. The sermon was preached May 15, 1884, on the texts: " Fear not, for I am with thee ; I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west ; I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back ; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth " (Isa. 43 : 5, 6). " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world " (Matt. 28 : 19, 20). The following extracts are true now as they were then. The Messianic Prophet and the Christ of all the prophets here unite their voices in calling the whole Church to the rescue of the whole world. The four quarters of the globe are summoned. The Lord's sons and daughters are to be gathered from the ends of the earth. This is the high, the supreme mission of the Church of Christ. This will remain its supreme mission until " every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." The whole Church as a church needs a higher consecration, a consecration all along the line, of person and property, of life and service, of ourselves and our children, to Him who has bought us with His own blood. Water will not rise higher that its fountain- head. A church will not rise higher than the consecration of its individual members. We need to go out of ourselves, to look upon our church machinery as only a means to an end, and that end the glory of Christ in saving men everywhere. A living orthodoxy is a chain binding the Church to the living be ^^ § 2 H Ph Preaching by Conduct and Practice 491 Christ, and insuring growth and progress. A dead orthodoxy is a splendid seal set upon a sepulchre. The modes of preaching the Gospel are various, but the Gospel to be preached is one. If missionaries open schools and teach, the Bible and the Christian faith must be the foundation of all their teaching. Dana, Dawson, and Guyot are illustrations of teaching the profoundest and purest science in the reverent spirit of Christian faith. Teaching medicine and science, for the sake of medicine and science, is not the work of the missionary ; but he may teach both in a Christian spirit, and with thorough in- struction in the Bible, and thus train Christian physicians and scholars who will be pillars of the Church in their native land. Type casting and book making are mechanical arts, but when done to give the Bible to a nation, as was done by Eli Smith, Van Dyck, Graham, Carey, Marshman, Morrison, and Dyer, in giving the Bible to the Arabs, the Hindus, and the Chinese, they become a noble form and mode of preaching the Gospel. Liv- ingstone was teaching when traversing Africa with his Makololo companions. Eli Smith was teaching when he spent weary months in the type foundries of Germany with Hallock, making the metallic punches and matrices for the new so-called American font of Arabic type in which the Bible was to be printed for sixty millions of Arabic-speaking people ; Hamlin was teaching when training the persecuted Armenians to bake bread for the British Crimean army ; Dr. Peter Parker when surrounded by thousands of patients in Canton ; Dr. Pratt when travelling in the Taurus Mountains ; Dr. Azariah Smith when organizing the Christians of Aintab into a self-supporting community; the Constantinople missionaries, Hamlin and Trowbridge, when caring for hundreds of cholera patients ; Dr. Grant, when journeying from village to village among the robber Kurds ; Whiting, in sacrificing his life to save the famine-stricken Chinese; Calhoun, confided in and trusted by both Druses and Maronites in the midst of their fierce civil war, when both parties alternately brought their gold and jewels to his unprotected house for safe-keeping ; the Syria mis- sionaries during the massacres of i860, when for months they fed 49^ Helps and Hindrances and clothed the twenty thousand refugees from Damascus and Lebanon ; Dr. Van Dyck, in translating the Bible and treating thousands of sufferers from the virulent eastern ophthalmia ; Dr. Post, in performing marvellous surgical operations, and in the in- tervals of leisure making a concordance of the Arabic Bible which cost him and his assistants 15,000 hours of labour ; Dr. West, who disarmed the bitter hostility of Armenian ecclesiastics and Turkish pashas, and won them to friendship by the patient and skillful use of his high medical knowledge ; Dr. Osgood, in de- livering hundreds of despairing victims from the opium curse in China ; Miss Dr. Howard, in successfully treating the wife of Li Hung Chang ; Bishop Patteson and his colleagues, in teaching the South Sea Islanders the simplest arts of decency in clothing and of comfort in building their houses ; these and multitudes of others in Asia, Africa, Europe, America, and the far-off isles, have truly obeyed the Saviour's last command, in teaching the Gospel, by living the Gospel and exhibiting its precious fruits amid famine and pestilence, want and nakedness, cannibalism and savage ferocity, wars and massacres, relieving suffering, healing disease, instructing ignorance and guiding lost men to a Saviour. The world needs the Gospel and the Gospel needs labourers of every kind ; and the Gospel needed is the Gospel in its purity and entirety ; the pure word of God with its converting and sanctifying power ; not a Gospel diluted and attenuated to suit an enfeebled sentiment, nor a mutilated Gospel, but the Gospel of salvation by faith in an atoning Saviour. The world is groaning under the burden of sin. It is full of colossal systems of creature worship, of propitiatory sacrifices, of self-torture, of pilgrimages, of bloody rites, of burnt offerings of human victims, which men, in the dark groping of their un- rest, have invented, or amid the wreck of ancient traditions have clutched at with the grip of despair, to satisfy the sense of de- served retribution for sin. It is an insult to the moral yearnings of man's nature to offer him such a stone, when he is dying of hunger for bread. Of what use is it to tell the pagan or the Mohammedan, the " Barbarian and the Scythian," that we have Marriage to Miss Lock wood 493 crossed seas and continents burning with zeal to teach them the glorious Gospel of uncertainty ; to enlist recruits in the army of mighty doubters ; to assure them that there is nothing sure ; to tell them to cultivate their consciousness, if perchance they may evolve from it a system of faith which will stand the test of the microscope and the crucible. When human hearts are aching and bleeding over sorrow and sickness, over the bereavements, the broken hopes and racking anxieties of life, and struggling with sin and evil, not knowing whence they came nor whither they are going, what mockery to raise their hopes of relief and comfort, and then drive them to a deeper misery by offering such a diet of despair ! On Wednesday evening, May 21, 1884, I presided by request of Dr. EUinwood at the annual foreign mission rally. Four missionaries were to speak. A programme was given to me with the directions, " no speaker to exceed ten minutes." When Dr. Imbrie of Japan arose he said it was rather hard to have an ex-moderator who had preached an hour limit us, his brethren, to ten minutes. It was hard, but the rule was inexorable and the speakers succeeded admirably in crowding so much into, the brief allotted time. On the 23d of July, 1884, I was married by Rev. Dr. G. F. Nichols of Binghamton to Miss Theodosia Davenport Lockwood, daughter of the late Rev. Peter Lockwood. We visited Southamp- ton, L. I., our ancestral home, met many relatives, and saw the houses where my father and grandfather were born. The old graveyard is one of the historic spots of ancient Long Island. It was a privilege to speak in the old Southampton church and meet the Fosters, Posts, and Harrises, We drove to North Sea and picked up shells on the beach ; just such shells as mother used to show to our admiring eyes in childhood's days. Aunt Harriet Harris gave me my Grandfather Henry Harris's family Bible, a portly volume of the olden time, and we visited his grave in that quaint, quiet old country village. How it carried me back to the early days, when father and mother used to tell us stories of the •' Island," the Shinnecock Indians, the return of the 494 Helps and Hindrances whale-ships, and the capture of whales off the Southampton beach ! The summer was spent in visiting churches in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and preparing for the journey to Syria, after this protracted furlough. In August, Gabriel, the negro man- of- all- work of my brother, Judge William H, Jessup, told us that he had met an old man named Safford, a carpenter, who told him that when a young man he worked on building father's law office, and father came in, stood by him at the work-bench, and prayed for his salvation, and he was thus led to begin a Christian life. On Sunday, October 5th, my youngest son Frederick Nevins aged eight years and ten months united with the old church in Montrose, thus completing the number of my eight children who are members of the Church of Christ. It was a joyous day to us all. October 9th we all, Mrs. Jessup, my six children and my brother William's daughter May who accompanied us to Syria, left for New York and at the St. Stephen's Hotel met throngs of old friends. One New York pastor, a dear friend of mine, who six months before had sent me his check for ;^ 1,000, said to me, " Call on me if you need anything." The kindness and affection of relatives and friends quite overcame me. I went once more to speak to the students of Union Seminary, in company with my brother William and Dr. Arthur Mitchell. My two older sons William and Henry came on from Princeton to bid us good-bye. Saturday, October nth, we sailed on the Britannic ior Liverpool, arriving on the 19th. Mr. A. Balfour of Liverpool met us and invited us to his house in Rosset. Four of the party accepted his invitation and went out for the night. We visited Chester Cathedral and met Dean Howson, who once preached for us in Beirut. Mr. and Mrs. Balfour were most abounding in their kind hospitahty. Being engaged in trade with Valparaiso, he was a warm friend of Dr. Trumbull, the American missionary, and was a liberal supporter of the missionary work of our church. Mr. Balfour died in June, 1886, greatly lamented and honoured. Home Again — A New Era Begun 495 On reaching London, we found that, owing to cholera in Southern France, we could not take steamer from Marseilles, so we were obliged to take the Orient Express from Paris to Varna on the Black Sea. We were quarantined in the Austrian steamer Flora, five days at Kavak in the Bosphorus in a cold rain-storm. We were met and welcomed to the houses of the missionaries in Scutari, Drs. Wood, Isaac G. Bliss, and Elias Riggs. Our stay- in Constantinople was only forty- eight hours and it rained con- stantly. Yet I was able to visit the Bible House, Robert College, and the Girls' College in Scutari. On leaving our anchorage, November 13th, at 5 : 30 p. m., the rudder chain broke, east of Seraglio Point and the steamer was driven by the swift current directly towards the rocks. There was great excitement on board but by a merciful Providence the chain was mended and the ship got under control when, apparently, not 200 feet from the rocks. In Smyrna we called on the missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett, Miss Page, Miss Lord, and Mr. and Mrs. Constantine. November 21st we reached Beirut at sunrise and were met by brother Samuel, his son and daughter, and Drs, Bliss, Eddy, Post, Dennis, and a crowd of Syrian friends. It was indeed " home again from a foreign shore." The harness was soon buckled on and my ordinary work in preaching and theological teaching resumed. November 30th I preached in Arabic and Bishop Hannington of Uganda in English, and at the Sunday- school in the afternoon I translated his address to the Sunday- school children. The annual meeting in December was attended by Rev. Dr. H. A. Nelson and his son William. His daughter Bessie was at that time connected with the Syria Mission and his son William joined it in August, 1888, It may be helpful to take a glance at the personnel of the mission at this time ; the beginning of what might be called the new era in the mission and college. In Beirut were Dr. C. V. A. Van Dyck, Dr. W. W. Eddy, Dr. H. H. Jessup, Dr. S. Jessup, Dr. J. S, Dennis and their wives ; Rev. S. Jessup had charge of the mission press, accounts, and 496 Helps and Hindrances custom-house work. The others had their portion of teaching the theological class, editing, literary and evangeUstic work. The female seminary was in charge of Miss Everett, Miss Jackson's resignation having taken effect in July previous. The instruction in the theological class was given as follows : Natural Theology and Old Testament Exegesis, Dr. C. V. A. Van Dyck ; Systematic Theology, Dr. J. S. Dennis ; New Testa- ment Exegesis, Dr. W. W. Eddy ; Church History, Homiletics, and Pastoral Theology, Dr. H. H. Jessup ; Scripture Interpreta- tion, Mr. Rizzuk Berbari. The instruction was in Arabic. It had been hoped that enough college graduates and others familiar with the English language would be found to warrant using only English text-books. This was tried with one class of five, but three of them left for America, and were lost to the work in Syria for which they were trained. Since that time the instruction has been almost entirely in Arabic. In Abeih station were Rev. Messrs. Bird (Abeih), Pond (Shem- lan) and their wives, with Miss Bird ; and Mrs. and Miss Calhoun in Shwifat, working among the women and conducting a girls' day-school. In Sidon station were Rev. W. K. Eddy, Rev. George A, Ford and his mother. In the Sidon Seminary were Misses Harriette Eddy, Bessie Nelson and Sarah Ford. In Zahleh station, Mr. Greenlee ; Rev. and Mrs. Gerald F. Dale being in America on furlough. In Tripoli station were Rev. Messrs. March and Hardin and their wives, and Dr. Harris. Miss La Grange and Miss Holmes had charge of the Tripoli Girls' School. In the Syrian Protestant College were Drs. Daniel Bliss, Post, Porter, Kay, Dight, Fisher, Messrs. West, Martin, and Giroux; Mr. Hoskins, who afterwards entered the mission, was principal of the preparatory department. In February, 1885, Dr. and Mrs. Harris and daughter Elsie re- turned from America. April 20th Dr. H. A. Nelson married his daughter Bessie to Rev. Wm. K. Eddy and immediately sailed for America with Mrs. Calhoun, her daughter Susan, her grand- Touring with Colonel Shepard 497 daughters Agnes and Helen Danforth and Mrs. Ford and her daughter Sarah. Four young men graduated from the theological class at the commencement in June. April 1 6th Col. Elhott F. Shepard of New York came to Beirut and asked that Dr. Van Dyck accompany him to Damascus and Jerusalem. As Dr. Van Dyck was unable to travel he referred him to me. I did not see how I could be absent so long, but after he reached Damascus he telegraphed me that he had hired animals, a dragoman, tents, and a palanquin, for Mrs. Jessup and myself to accompany him April 23d on a tour via Sidon, Tyre, and Nazareth to Jerusalem ! The brethren advised us to go and we went, and had a most prosperous and instructive journey. Colonel Shepard was a delightful companion and it was a pleas- ure to tell him of the sacred sites we visited. At every town where there was an international telegraph office he telegraphed to his family in Switzerland. The moonlight ride down the mountain to the Sea of Galilee and the sail on the sea on April 30th, were events not to be for- gotten. We were seven hours on the Lake of Tiberias and the heat was intense. Near Capernaum we saw a Bedawy wading among the great stones near the shore and catching fish with his hands. Colonel Shepard at once bought the fish. Daiid the dragoman kindled a fire and we broiled them on the coals and ate them for our lunch. The Colonel was much affected by the thought that near this very spot our Lord provided a similar re- past for His disciples. Colonel Shepard was a thoroughly relig- ious man, a careful Bible student, and a strict observer of the Sabbath. We spent a Sunday at Tyre. Dr. Ford, an old fellow worker with the Colonel in New York City mission work, after preaching in the village of Alma in the morning, rode down to Tyre, about four hours in the saddle, to aid in the evening serv- ice. Colonel Shepard quite took him to task for Sunday travel, and he was hardly satisfied with our explanation of the need of Dr. Ford's help in the union meeting in Tyre. He was a genial companion, of generous impulses and large liberality. Seeing the 498 Helps and Hindrances utterly meagre furniture of Dr. Ford's room in Tyre, he ordered Daud the dragoman to go to the furniture shop and buy chairs, tables, bureau, and bookcase, etc. We all told the Colonel that in this abject town of Tyre there were no furniture shops and not a chair for sale. But he insisted, and Daiad went to the private house of a Tyrian merchant and bought out his stock of furniture without regard to expense, at which the Colonel was greatly grat- ified. Nazareth, Samaria, Bethel, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem were full of interest. Dr. Merrill, our consul in Jerusalem, was most at- tentive and gave us valuable instruction on the sacred sites. We parted with the Colonel with sincere regrets and returned to Beirut May 13th. On his way to Beirut he had visited Tarsus and resolved to found an institute there as a memorial to St. Paul. While in Paris, on his way home, he learned that the sum of ^6,000 had been cut off from the usual appropriation to the Syria Mission, whereupon he at once sent his check for that amount, filling the hearts of the missionaries and Syrian helpers with joy and grati- tude and a suitable letter of thanks was sent him by the mission. At a later day, we informed him that the Misk property adjoin- ing the American Mission Church in Beirut was for sale and he promptly sent on, September 8, 1887, his check for ^7,000, by which aid, after waiting seventeen years, we have been able to buy that land and thus complete the mission property in Beirut in the most satisfactory manner and furnish a convenient manse for the native Syrian pastor. In 1886 he consummated his scheme for a St. Paul's Institute in Tarsus and in his will endowed it with ;^ 100,000. It is doing a truly Pauline work in Cilicia. His name will never be forgot- ten in Syria. The bronze tablet sent out by Mrs. Shepard now shows the passer-by " The Elliott F. Shepard Manse " as one of the permanent Protestant buildings in Beirut. October 7, 1885, Rev. and Mrs. G. F. Dale, Misses Ahce S. Barber, and Rebecca and Charlotte Brown reached Beirut harbour and spent six days in quarantine before landing. Miss Barber Death of Gerald F. Dale 499 entered the Beirut Girls' School and the Misses Brown the school in Sidon. November 27th there was a brilliant meteoric shower of Leonids lasting from 6 to 12 p. m. ; almost equal to the marvellous display of November 14, 1866. The ignorant part of the native popula- tion, especially the Moslems, were filled with terror. The year 1886 brought a threefold sorrow to the mission in Syria, in the death of Mr. Rizzuk Berbari and Mr. John Effendi Abcarius in Beirut and Rev. Gerald F, Dale in Zahleh. Mr. Berbari, known as Muallim Rizzuk, was fifty years old and had been a teacher thirty-three years in Abeih with Mr. Calhoun, and in Beirut with Dr. Dennis. He was a thoughtful, scholarly, industrious, and faithful man. His home was a model Christian home and his children prove the value of the godly training of their father and mother. His great modesty only prevented his becoming the pastor of the Beirut church. He was the transla- tor and editor of various useful Arabic books. He died February 1 6th, greatly lamented. Mr. John Abcarius was the finest specimen of a refined Christian gentleman I have known in Syria. He was the son of an Ar- menian Protestant, was trained in the mission schools, engaged in business in Egypt, and served as dragoman of H. B. M. consul- general in Beirut for years. Having acquired wealth, he was the most liberal giver in the Protestant community. His word was never questioned. His sterling integrity was an example and a proverb among the people. He was sound in judgment and in the trying times in the Beirut church he never flinched in his de- votion to the cause of order and discipline. Had he lived a few years longer it is probable that the sad schism in the Beirut church would never have taken place. He translated various works into Arabic and prepared an English-Arabic dictionary which is the standard work of that character for both Syria and Fgypt. His memory is very precious to me. But to us the most bitter affliction of 1886 was the death in Zahleh, October 6th, of Rev. Gerald F. Dale, Jr., after fourteen years of labour in Syria. 500 Helps and Hindrances He was a rare and beautiful character. Dr. Hodge of Prince- ton described him as " the model gentleman, the model Chris- tian and the model scholar of Princeton." And he became the model missionary, courteous, kind, patient, prayerful, studious, progressive, a church organizer, and a church builder, and be- loved by the people. During the cholera epidemic in Sughbin in July, 1875, he went to the village, took medicines to the sick, and administered them, cheered the despondent, taught the native preacher how to use the " Hamlin Mixture " and the plague was stayed. His name is revered throughout the Zahleh and Baalbec field to this day and his death in October, 1886, was one of those sudden and paralyzing blows of the Father's afflictive rod which baffles our feeble understanding. April 16, 1879, he was married in Beirut to Miss Mary Bliss, only daughter of Rev. Dr. Bliss, president of the Syrian Protes- tant College. For seven years he kept bachelor's hall in Zahleh, and for seven years had a happy married life in a home bright- ened with domestic love and abounding in loving hospitality. In preaching, teaching, organizing churches, counselling the people, and settling their quarrels he was an acknowledged leader in Zahleh and the whole region of the Bookaa from Mount Hermon to Ras Baalbec. He was a remarkable man. He at the same time enforced your respect by his lofty motives and high character, won your love by his gentle and winning ways, and awakened your aston- ishment at^ his extraordinary zeal and capacity for work. The first text which flashed on my mind when the sad telegram reached us was " the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up." He was literally on fire with burning zeal. His name was a watch- word on every side. Corrupt government officials feared his stern integrity, the poor and oppressed loved him, and scores of young men and women whom he selected and put in the way of acquiring an education looked upon him as a benefactor. He could go into a Turkish court and defend the rights of the perse- cuted and oppressed and the wily officials would quail before hinj. And he would take a Httle child by the hand, pat her on Mr. Dale's Lovely Character ^oi the head, ask her name, and win her little heart. He was a fine preacher in Arabic, a true and trusty friend, a loving and beloved brother, and won the confidence and esteem of the natives all over Syria where he was known. Dr. Eddy wrote : " He was a beloved and honoured Christian brother, a most untiring Christian worker, an enthusiastic mis- sionary having faith in man and large hopes in the results of labour ; fertile in resources, genial in intercourse with all men, conciliatory in manner, making friends and keeping them." Dr. Dennis wrote : " He was a strong and earnest missionary, and he loved his field with a perfect passion. Through summer heat and winter cold, in rain and mud, in snow and sleet, in withering siroccos as well as in the bright and glorious sunshine of that fair garden of Ccele-Syria, he was in the saddle visiting his parish and watching over his spiritual charge." Dr. George Ford wrote : " I am touched by the sorrowful exclamations of our Syrian brethren. Even those who knew him but slightly declare, ' He was wonderful. Never have we seen such untiring devotion and holy zeal as his.' In our devotional meetings his words were always aflame with holy fire, and his prayers those of one eminently a man of God, or to use his own favourite expression, ' waiting upon God.' " He was most sincere, yet most sanguine. He was no less remarkable for gentleness than for energy, for superb push than for conspicuous modesty. His severity was always kind, and his friendliness always dignified." The cause of his death was a malignant pustule whose nature was not understood until too late. On the day before his death Dr. Bliss left Zahleh for Beirut and stopped at the house of Dr. Dennis in Aleih to rest. He reported Mr. Dale about the same, and Mrs. Dale confined to her room with an infant daughter, Geraldine, three days old. That very evening came a telegram from Zahleh of Mr. Dale's critical condition. A similar telegram was sent to Dr. Post in Beirut buJ: owing to the in- efficiency of the telegraph employees it was twelve hours in going twenty-seven miles. Dr. Post and Dr. Bliss set out at 3*02 Helps and Hindrances midnight and rode over Lebanon as fast as their horses could go, but reached Zahleh just too late. He had fallen asleep at 4 : 30 A. M. They wired us and we joined them at the Aleih junction, and as the last rays of the setting sun gilded the tops of the cypresses we laid him to rest in the old mission cemetery in Beirut, where his little daughter Carrie Lyon was laid beside him only six days after. At the first meeting of the Syrian Mission held after his death, February 10, 1887, the Mission Memorial Minute expressed " their profound sorrow at the death of a fellow missionary so greatly beloved and so eminently useful. Mr. Dale had been identified with the Zahleh station during his whole missionary hfe of fourteen years. He was a man of prayer, of great zeal and earnestness, fully consecrated to the work. He had impressed his spirit on many of those brought under his influence, and his memory throughout the mission is blessed. He had strong faith, was buoyant and sanguine, cheerful and hopeful even amid the hours of great difficulty and trial. His death is a loss to us as a mission and as individuals." I ■ often recall my visits to him in his bachelor days in Zahleh. Once it was midwinter. The narrow streets were piled high with snow shovelled from the roofs and it was bitterly cold. He did not feel the cold and had only a small stove in one room of his house. His dining-room was open on one side and I sat at the table in my overcoat and shawl with the mercury at freez- ing point, and while I shivered with the cold he did not seem to notice it. His death left such a burden of responsibility upon Mr. Green- lee, who had been but three years on the field and who was nervously worn out by excessive night study, that Mr. J. R. Jewett, a student of the Semitic languages in Beirut, was invited to assist him, and on Mr. Greenlee's leaving for America in 1887, Dr. Dennis and Mr. March took charge of the station assisted by Mr. Ford. During Mr. Dale's term of service church edifices had been erected in Zahleh, Moallaka, Kefr Zebed, Baalbec, Sughbin, Aitaneet, and Meshghara. He had also planned a Zahleh Remanned — Government Oppression 503 boys' boarding-school, and was preparing to open it when he was stung by that poisonous fly which cost him his Hfe. In 1888 Rev. F. E. Hoskins was stationed in Zahleh, having married Miss H. M. Eddy of the Sidon Girls' School, and in November, 1890, they were joined by Rev. William Jessup and Mrs. Jessup. On the transfer of Mr. Hoskins, October, 1900, to Beirut, Rev. George C. Doolittle was called to Zahleh from Deir el Komr. Misses R. Brown and Emily Bird gave instruction in the Trip- oli Girls' School in the absence on furlough of Miss La Grange. Mrs. H. H. Jessup was absent five months in America having attended the dying bed of her mother. D. Stuart Dodge Jessup went with her to America to pursue his studies. At this time the repressive measures of the imperial author- ities against Protestant schools, hospitals, and churches, became so pronounced and open that seventy-one missionaries and teach- ers petitioned the ambassadors to obtain a suspension of this official persecution of Protestantism. The facts were recited in a pamphlet of twenty-one pages, and the different forms of aggression were classified under, 1st, Inter- ference with the personal work of the missionaries themselves ; 2d, Interference with the building of the churches ; 3d, With the rights of religious worship ; 4th, With schools ; 5th, With hos- pital work ; 6th, A virtual prohibition of the right of petition. After long conference between the ambassadors and H. E. Munif Pasha, Minister of PubHc Instruction, His Excellency issued orders recognizing all existing schools and forbidding interfer- ence with them. But the animus of the authorities towards all foreign institutions is that of suspicion and obstruction. For- merly this suspicion was confined to those of the European Pow- ers, as America was known to have no political designs on Turkey, but latterly it has assumed an anti-Christian phase which is far more dangerous not only to religious liberty but also to the peace of society. In December, 1886, the Suk el Gharb church edifice was ded- icated to the worship of God. The devotional services were 504 Helps and Hindrances conducted by Messrs. Bird and Pond, and the sermon was preached by H. H. Jessup. Since the growth of the Suk Boys' Boarding-School, this church has been crowded for nine months of the year, and as Rev. Beshara Barudi is its ordained pastor, it occupies a centre of great influence in Lebanon. In November we were horrified by the news that a Moslem woman of the family of Aitany in our quarter of Beirut had killed herself because she gave birth to a girl after having had five sons. A few years before a man of the same sect committed suicide because of the birth of his seventh daughter. This feel- ing is common among the Moslems and among Asiatics gener- ally. The birth of a girl is a calamity and even among the Maronites they say " the threshold weeps forty days when a girl is born." In December there was a new outburst of official interference with the Arabic Scriptures, Seven boxes of vowelled Arabic Scriptures were sent to the custom-house to be shipped to the British and Foreign Bible Society in London. We usually had no difficulty in shipping books. All books entering the empire were examined by the censor, and if objected to were either con- fiscated or sent back to Europe or America. But the shipping of books out of the empire, especially as all our publications had the stamp of the imperial approval, met with no opposition. But these seven boxes were seized and the mudir declared that their export was forbidden. For ten days we were kept running to the pasha and the American consul, until finally by telegraphing to Constantinople we secured orders for the shipment of the boxes. This act was one of thousands of similar cases in which petty officials try to extort bribes and blackmail from all who fall into their hands. The prohibition of certain books, as e. g., those on Turkey, Syria, Mohammed, Islam, the Sultan, etc., amounts to nothing, as any book on any subject can be imported by the British, French, German, or Austrian mails. Several times the Turkish censor, after ordering a certain book to be reshipped to England or America, has asked me to order that same book to be imported Ancient Pottery Made to Order 505 for him through the British post. But for these foreign post- offices, all Europeans would be virtually cut off from news of the outside world, as letters and papers would be opened and read and in many cases destroyed. As it is, Europeans or Americans in the interior can get few, if any, foreign newspapers. Some of the Turkish officials, who desire universal reform, are trying tcJ improve the system, but as long as suspicion and espionage con- tinue, the European governments will not surrender their post- offices. In February, in compliance with orders from the Waly of Da- mascus, we sent samples of all our Arabic publications to Damas- cus for examination and approval by the Mudir el Maarif, or director of public instruction. Some months after, the mudir came to our press and asked to see all our publications. They were all laid out on tables and he examined them and placed on every one the seal of approbation. Since that time we have had to send to Constantinople two manuscript copies of every book to be printed. After correction and sometimes mutilation by the imperial Mejlis, one copy is returned to us for printing. After printing and before pubhcation a printed copy must be mailed to Constantinople for comparison and woe to the press that varies in printing from the corrected copy ! This same precautionary process must be gone through with by every daily, weekly, and monthly journal, a proof being sent to the local censor for ex- amination. In February when on a visit to Sidon, Mr, W. K. Eddy told me of the brisk business carried on in Sidon in the manufacture of fraudulent Phoenician inscriptions, statuettes, vases, lamps, etc., made in the city and sent to the villages to be buried in the earth and then dug up and brought in for sale by cameleers hired for the purpose and fully in the secret. Innocent travellers are accosted by these impostors on the highways and pay high prices for the wonderful antiques. They are so well made as to deceive the very elect. I went with Mr. Eddy to Mejdeluna and Jiin for Sunday serv- ices and communion. We had good congregations. In the first 5o6 Helps and Hindrances village the house of the elder was built in the old-fashioned style. At one end of the room we could see the heads of the horned cattle eating from the manger, which was a trough extending along the sides of the room. The floor of the cattle-room was lower than the floor of the sitting-room, so that the heads of the cattle were in plain sight and they looked at us, eating their barley and straw with great calmness. One could see plainly how easy it was for Mary to lay the infant Jesus in such a manger, and Joseph no doubt kept the '• horned oxen " back while Mary watched over her child. In Jun we visited the ruined house and grave of Lady Hester Stanhope, whose eccentric career is described by Dr. Thomson in " The Land and the Book." The grave has been plowed over again and again until it is hardly discernible. In Sidon I addressed the girls of the boarding-school, returning the next day to Beirut. On the 14th of March a letter came from Mr. Eddy of a won- derful discovery in Sidon of ancient tombs, containing some white polished marble sarcophagi of exquisite beauty and marvellous sculpture. Mr. Eddy had been into the tombs hewn in the soHd rock thirty feet below the surface and had measured and de- scribed all the sarcophagi of white and black marble with scien- tific exactness. On the 21st Dr. Eddy received from his son an elaborate report on the discovery which was intended to be sent to his brother Dr. Condit Eddy in New Rochelle. I obtained permission to make a copy for transmission to Dr. William Wright of London, and sent it by mail the next day. Dr. Wright sent it to the London Times with a note in which he expressed the hope that the authorities of the British Museum would " take immediate measures to secure these treasures and prevent their falling into the hands of the vandal Turk." The Times reached Constantinople. Now it happened that the department of antiquities at that time as now was under the charge of Hamdi Beg, a man educated in Paris, an artist, an engineer, and well up in archaeology. When he saw that article of Mr. Eddy's in the Times and Dr. Wright's letter, he said to SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, SIDON SARCOPHAGUS OF THE WEEPING WOMEN, SIDON The Wonderful Fluid in the Sarcophagus 507 himself (as he afterwards told us), " I'll show what the • Vandal Turk ' can do ! " He at once telegraphed to the Governor of Sidon to place a cordon of police around the tomb and allow no one to enter it until he should arrive. On April 29th he came. He called on Mr. Eddy and Dr. Ford and set about the removal of those priceless treasures of Greek and Phoenician sculpture. Dressed like a common navvy in a blouse and heavy shoes, he superin- tended the cutting of a tunnel from the orange gardens to the floor of those subterranean rock-hewn rooms, built a tramway, rolled out the colossal sarcophagi to the gardens, and then built his tramway down to the seashore where he constructed a wharf on piles. He then brought a steamer from Constantinople, had a large opening made in its side, floated the huge blocks, encased in wrappings and boxed, to the side of the steamer, drew them into the hold, and carried them away triumphant to Constanti- nople, where they remain in the museum, the admiration of the learned and unlearned tourists from all parts of the world. One of them is supposed to be the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. Mr. W. K. Eddy deserves the credit of having first made them known, before the antiquity hunting vandals of Sidon had broken them to pieces. As it was, one of the exquisitely carved statuettes was broken and the fragments offered for sale, but it was finally secured for Hamdi Beg. A company of men and ladies from Beirut rode down on horseback May i8th to Sidon, and Hamdi Beg was most courteous in showing us the entire collection, those in the tombs and those already in the gardens. One day his patience was greatly tried. One sarcophagus, when the lid was opened, con- tained a human body floating in perfect preservation in a peculiar fluid. The flesh was soft and perfect in form and colour. But, alas, while Hamdi Beg was at lunch, the over- officious Arab workmen overturned it and spilled all the precious fluid on the sand. The beg's indignation knew no bounds, but it was too late and the body could not be preserved, and the secret of the wonderful fluid was again hidden in the Sidon sand. XXII Mission Schools Girls' schools at Sidon and Tripoli — The Gerard Institute — The school at Suk el Gharb — Mount Lebanon Hospital for the Insane. SIX other boarding-schools connected with the Presby- terian Mission have been opened since i860. The girls' schools in Tripoh (1872), and Sidon (1862), and the boys' boardings-schools in Sidon (1881), and Suk el Gharb (1877), have had a large share in the training of the youth of Syria. In 1899 the boys' boarding-school at Shweir, Mount Lebanon, founded in 1869 by the Lebanon Schools Committee of the Free Church of Scotland, in Suk el Gharb, and thence removed to Shweir, was transferred to the Presbyterian Board of Missions. The principal. Rev. William Carslaw, M. D., however, continues as its head, being supported by the United Free Church. The school has a high character for religious influence and scholar- ship. Another boys' boarding-school has just been opened in Tripoli, under the care of Rev. Dr. Nelson. Its prospects are good, and the people are willing to pay for education. It has seventy-five paying boarders. The native Protestants in Hums have opened at their own expense a boys' boarding-school with ninety boarders and ninety day pupils. Tripoli Girls' School The Tripoli station had been occupied about twenty years, when the need of a girls' boarding-school became urgent. A day- school for girls had been opened in 1856 and continued, but it could not train teachers or benefit Protestant girls in the interior. 508 Tripoli Girls' School 509 Beirut Seminary was too far and its training not adapted to the peasant girls of Akkar and Safita, Hums, and Mahardeh. In September, 1873, Mrs. Shrimpton, an English lady, and Miss Kipp, of Auburn, N. Y., took charge of the school. In October, 1875, Miss Mary S. Hanford (now Mrs. Professor Moore of Andover) spent a year in teaching. In January, 1876, Miss Harriet La Grange began her work as head of the school, and was joined in May by Miss EmiUa Thomson, of Beirut. In October, 1879, Miss Susan H. Calhoun came to aid Miss La Grange. In December, 1879, Miss Calhoun was transferred to Shvvifat, and Miss Cundall took her place, and remained until her return to America in March, 1883. In November, 1883, Miss C. M. Holmes came, and remained, with one year's absence, until July, 1894. Misses R. Brown (1886), Bird (1887), M. T. M. Ford (1888), F. M. Jessup (1895), A. H. Jessup (1896), E. M. Law, and Mrs. Shaw taught for varying periods until Miss Bernice Hunting came in October, 1896. During her furlough in 1 904- 1 905 Miss Gillbee of England took her place. Not less than fifteen different foreign teachers have been con- nected with it, but the success of the school has been owing to the faithful and continuous labours of Miss Harriet La Grange for thirty-three years. Two classes of girls have been enrolled in this school, the more aristocratic Greek girls of Tripoli, and the daughters of the fellahin of the interior. To combine these two in one school has been no easy task, but the patience, wisdom and fidelity of the teachers have surmounted all difficulties. The daughters of the city have been highly educated and fitted for the wealthier homes, and the country girls have been fitted to be teachers, and to be wives of Syrian artisans and farmers. I was present at the graduating exercises of this school in 1885, and delivered the annual address. At the close, Nicola Beg Nofel, the most prominent citizen of the Orthodox Greek community of Tripoli, made a brief address, speaking in the most eloquent and affectionate terms of the high esteem in which Miss La Grange was held by the people of Tripoli, and of the fruit of her labours in the moral, religious, and intellectual eleva- 510 Mission Schools tion of the young women of TripoU. It was one of the many similar testimonies given from time to time in Tripoli, Beirut and Sidon, to the high appreciation by the Syrian people of female education as conducted by the American missionaries. The English language has been taught, and certain of the pupils have learned French, but all have been trained in the Arabic language, and in the Scriptures. In the winter of 1900-1901 a profound rehgious awakening moved the whole school. The number of boarding pupils in the Tripoli school from the beginning is about 300, thirty-six of whom have become teachers in Protestant, native Greek and Russian schools. Twelve of the present pupils are daughters of former pupils. The Sidon Girls' Boarding-School A glance at the map of Syria, showing three American board- ing-schools for girls on the Syrian coast, within a distance of seventy miles, has led some to criticize a policy of such educa- tional concentration. But the explanation is easy. Each of these schools has been a providential growth. The Syrian people can best be reached through village schools. Schools are an entering wedge, and open the way for the Church and the organized Protestant community. But these schools must have teachers, and the girls' schools must have teachers from the villages where they are opened. To meet this need and to train educated wives for Protestant men, there must be boarding- schools. Dr. De Forest opened the first girls' boarding-school in Syria. On his departure, the Board sent Miss Temple and Miss Johnson, who transferred the school from Beirut to Suk el Gharb in 1858. The massacres of i860 broke up the school, and the same circumstances which made it impolitic to reopen the school in Lebanon demanded its opening in Sidon. Miss Johnson having returned to America, Miss Mason came in her place, and as the Civil War in America had crippled the funds of the Board, Miss Mason was directed to open, in October, 1862, a day-school in Sidon, and girls from the outlying villages, in at- Sidon Girls' School 511 tendance, were to board in the families of native Protestants in the city at the expense of the mission. Miss Mason resigned in 1865, having had the aid of Mrs. W. W. Eddy, and Mrs. Ford in carrying on the school. The mission then decided to place the school wholly in charge of a Syrian principal and teachers, under the supervision of Mrs. Eddy. This was a pet object with those who originated the Beirut Female Seminary, and the Syrian Protestant College. It succeeded in Beirut Seminary for six years and then failed, as the rarely gifted Syrian preceptress, Miss Rufka Gregory, had no successor, and Miss E. D. Everett was called to take her place. It was in reality never tried in the Syrian Protestant College nor could it have been tried. As the American Board were loath to send another American in Miss Mason's place, this plan of a Syrian principal was tried* But in the fall and winter of 1867, Mrs. E. H. Watson, an Eng- lish lady of long experience as a teacher, and her Syrian adopted daughter. Miss Handumeh Shekkur Watson, took charge of the school. Afterwards it was conducted by Misses Jacombs and Stainton, EngHsh ladies, from 1871 to July, 1876. These ladies were supported by the then prosperous " Society for the Promo- tion of Female Education in the East." The courtesy shown by this society in supplying Sidon Seminary so long was fully ap- preciated. Meantime the hope of placing it under a Syrian principal and staff was abandoned. In October, 1876, Miss Harriette M. Eddy, having completed her .education in the United States and re- turned as an appointed missionary, took charge of the school. She continued in it for twelve years, until her marriage to Rev. F. E. Hoskins, August, 1888. During this period she had been assisted by Misses M. M. Lyons (i 877-1880), E. Bird (1881), B. M. Nelson (1881-1885), S. Ford (1883), Rebecca Brown (1885-1892), Charlotte Brown (1885). On the return of Miss R. Brown to America, in 1892, Miss Ellen M. Law came to the school, and was followed in November, 1893, by her sister, Miss M. Louise Law. In 1 892-1893, Miss M. T. M. Ford taught in j;12 Mission Schools Sidon Seminary, Mrs. Gerald F. Dale, Jr., in 1 893-1 894, Miss F. M. Jessup for the year 1900-1901 ; and in December, 1902, Miss Home came to Sidon and remained there nearly two years. The school is now (1908) under the charge of Misses Charlotte Brown and Louise Law. It now has about fifty boarding pupils, and quite a number of day scholars. In its curriculum it has vibrated between a purely vernacular basis and a broader one teaching the English language. It has aimed at admitting only Protestant girls, whether paying pupils or not, and its graduates form now the best element in the Christian womanhood of the whole mission field east and south of Sidon, in scores of villages and hundreds of homes. It does not aim at as high a standard of the Beirut Seminary, and its graduates often enter the Beirut '• Teacher's Class," to fit them as first-class teachers, but it gives a solid and substantial education. It must be remembered that Syria has no public schools. The only government schools virtually receive only Moslem children, and exclude the Christian sects. The system is narrow, bigoted and short-sighted, intended to bolster up Islam, and ignore Chris- tianity. " While nominally for all sects, yet probably not more than one per cent, of their pupils are from the Oriental Christian sects" (the London Times, January, 1905).^ Every Christian sect is, therefore, forced to educate its own children, and thus the children of the various sects in the empire grow up ignorant of each other, and the ancient racial and re- ligious hatreds are perpetuated. Protestant schools open their doors to all. Yet the authorities, fearing the light, threaten all Moslem children attending Protestant schools. As a rule the Protestant schools are so much better than others, that they are crowded with pupils of all sects. An educated Protestant young woman in a village, teaching the children, teaches the mothers as well, and becomes the counsellor and guide of all, respected and beloved. Each village school becomes a fountain of light and blessing. *The programme of the new liberal government includes common schools for all and universal education. Gerard Institute — Industrial Work 513 Sidon school has thus far educated 566 boarders and seventy- eight day pupils in the upper department. Of these 190 are known to have united with the Church ; and of these, about 140 of the graduates have become teachers in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Gerard Institute, Sidon This institution, now so well established, is the outgrowth of a missionary necessity. After a trial of fifteen years, it was found that, as a rule, the college graduates were not available as teach- ers of village schools, and as ordinary rehgious helpers. They were not content with the moderate salaries, nor a return to simple village life and habits. It was, therefore, voted in August, 1 88 1, that, " in view of the want of a grade of teachers in the mis- sion, intermediate between college graduates and the graduates of common schools, the different stations (Sidon, Abeih, Tripoli, and Zahleh) be authorized to educate a class of pupil-teachers in the high schools at the central stations of each field, and to furnish in whole or in part the cost of the board of the pupils while studying." In accordance with this vote, Sidon station authorized Mr. W. K. Eddy to open a boarding department in the day-school for boys in Sidon, October, 1881, the boys being chiefly from the neighbouring villages. A part of them brought their own food, and slept at the school. About 1882 a boys' boarding-school was also opened in Sukel Gharb, Mount Lebanon, by Rev. T. S. Pond, of the Abeih sta- tion, and one at a later date, 1885, in Zahleh, by Rev. G. F. Dale, Jr., but the boarding department of the school was discon- tinued at his death, October, 1886, after one year's trial, for lack of a missionary superintendent. In August, 1886, Dr. G. A. Ford, by appointment, read a paper before the mission on boys' boarding-schools. He said in part: " In view of the suspension of Abeih Seminary, the opening of the theological seminary in Beirut, the change in the college from Arabic to English, after the Abeih Seminary was closed. 514 Mission Schools and the difficulty of depending on the college for plain teachers and preachers, and there being no institution preparatory to the theological seminary where a first-class Arabic or Bible educa- tion can be obtained ; and in view of the gradual disappearance of the men trained in Abeih under Mr. Calhoun, a falling off in the grade of native helpers ; the drain Egypt makes on the class of highly-educated men ; and the drifting of the boys' boarding- schools in Sidon and Suk beyond the scope of the vote under which they were founded ; it is evident that there is need of an intermediate education for Christian workers. A similar need is felt in England and America." Dr. Ford quoted the General As- sembly, the Methodists, Drs. Crosby, Cuyler, Craighead, Dykes, Spurgeon's Lay College, H. G. Guinness' Missionary Institute, and Moody's Bible Training-Schools in Chicago and Northfield. Mr. Calhoun had said, in 1859 : " To the Scriptures we give increased attention. The Bible is doing more to unfold and ex- pand the intellectual powers and to create careful and honest thinkers, than all the science we teach, and at the same time is the chief instrument in ridding mind and heart of those hateful doctrines and traditions, which are the heritage of these sons of the Church (z. e., Greeks, Maronites and Catholics)." The plea for an intermediate training-school was urged on the ground of enlargement, simpHcity, rapidity and economy. Dr. Ford urged that two schools be opened, one a vernacular Bible training-school, excluding English ; the other a thorough Arabic academic course, with English enough to enable pupils to enter the college. In 1890 Mr. March read a paper on boys' boarding-schools, urging that the mission should set apart for this work the best man with the strongest mind and warmest heart that the mission can afford. He urged that the college course is too long and ex- pensive, and its graduates cannot supply teachers for the common schools. In fact, up to 1890, seventy-two of the boys trained in the mission boarding-schools had become teachers in the com- mon schools. The mission had often discussed the need of an industrial de- The Orphanage — Mrs. Wood's Liberality 515 partment in our training-schools. The educated boys were leav- ing school with no means of support. All could not be teachers. Education of the head without the hand had unfitted them to work as their fathers had before them. What Syria needed was a body of educated men who could work as carpenters, tailors, shoemakers and farmers, and support themselves. Thus far much had been said, but nothing done. To Dr. G. A. Ford is due the credit of having made the ideal actual. In June, 1893, the mis- sion voted approving the establishment of an industrial orphan- age for boys, under evangelical management and American superintendence, and asking for an endowment of ^25,000, apart from the cost of property, building and equipment. In 1894, Dr. Ford presented an elaborate paper on industrial training, and in January, 1895, it was agreed that industrial training be begun as an integral part of Sidon Academy, now Gerard Institute. In 1894, ;g 1 5,000 were raised: ;$6,500 by Mrs. Wood, ;^4,ooo by Dr. Ford, and ;$4,550 by Dr. H. H. Jessup, and in 1895 the Miyeh-wa-miyeh farm was purchased, and the progress of the in- dustrial school approved by the mission. Carpentry, tailoring, shoemaking and masonry were begun and successfully carried on. Eight thousand dollars was expended for land, ^4,000 for addi- tional buildings, ;^i,ooo for implements, ;^i,ooo for raw materials for trades, and ;^ 1,000 for running expenses the first year. Mrs. George Wood of New York, who had already munificently given towards the erection of Wood Hall for the Sidon Boys' School, and the Judaideh school and dwelling-house, now gave new proofs of her broad-minded generosity. Through her aid more land was purchased. Artesian boring apparatus was imported, with the aid of Mrs. Livingston Taylor of Cleveland, who gave ^4,000 for that department of the work and engineers came from America and made successive borings for water. Much the most successful one is in the campus of Wood Hall. Pipes were driven down 900 feet, and a stream of pure water rose nearly to the sur- face from over 700 feet depth, and an hydraulic ram forces the water up to an elevated tank, from which it flows to the Gerard Institute and the girls' boarding-school at the other end of the 5l6 Mission Schools city, supplying all the needs of the American colony, with a sur- plus that could be sold to the city. In May, 1900, the name of Sidon Academy was changed to Gerard Institute, in honour of the maiden name of Mrs. George Wood. This name covers the literary, industrial and orphan de- partments. An orphan house and school building has been erected on the Miyeh-wa-miyeh farm, known as Beulah Home, and extensive irrigating works have been constructed in the valley, on the northeast, vastly increasing the value and productiveness of the farm. This farm with its wheat fields, mulberry, olive and orange orchards, is expected to yield an annual net income of at least ;^i,ooo, for the support of the orphanage. Ramapo Hall is now being erected on the farm on an elevation overlooking Sidon and the sea. During the visit of Rev. Dr. Brown to Syria in 1902, Mrs. Wood added to her already generous benefactions the following splendidly munificent proposal : " Having long cherished a desire to add to the permanence and scope of the Mission Training-School for Boys at Sidon, it gives me double pleasure to connect the offers I am prepared to make with the auspicious occasion of your first secretarial visit to Syria. Allow me, then, through you, to make to the mission and the Board, for the benefit of Gerard Institute, the following offer : " I. Fifteen hundred dollars in cash already loaned by me to the stock account of the industrial department of the Gerard In- stitute. " 2. Such a sum in cash (not to exceed ;^ 10,000) as may be required to erect needful buildings at ' Dar Es Salaam.' " 3, The loan of such a further sum in cash without interest, as might be required to carry out any plans ^ the Board and mission may decide upon, said loan being fully covered in their judgment by assets of the mission for the purpose becoming available in a few years' time. " 4. The title deeds for the new building for the orphans * With reference to the consolidation of the boarding-schools. DAR ES SALAAM SIDON ORPHANAGE (CALLED BEULAH HOUSE.) SIDON GERARD INSTITUTE PUPILS Having an outing by the sea. (The Sea Castle of Sidon is at the right.) A Munificent Gift 517 known as ' Beulah Home ' — with the large tract of land on which it stands and the forest tract near by. "5. An annual sum (not exceeding ^1,000) to cover any- needed outlay towards securing more efficient instruction in the manual department. " 6. An annual sum (not exceeding ^1,000) to cover the cost of maintaining the orphan department with a maximum of twenty boys, including the wages of the farm overseer. •' When the plans of the mission relative to these offers shall have been matured, I shall be ready to take all requisite measures to satisfy the Board and the mission regarding the security of my offers and their permanent vahdity." This offer was unanimously and cordially accepted by the Syria Mission and by the Board, so that the Gerard Institute now has a larger financial support than any other boarding- school in the world connected with our work. I cannot speak too highly of the value of Mrs. Wood's intelligent, sym- pathetic and self-sacrificing cooperation. She has given un- stintedly of her time, her strength and her money, and without her assistance the institute never could have become what it is to-day. The institute is situated in the city of Sidon, but while the sit- uation is convenient, it was too small before Mrs. Wood's offer, and it is altogether impossible from the view-point of the enlarged plans which her generosity has permitted. There can be no ex- pansion in Sidon proper, for the adjoining property on both sides is owned by parties who will not sell, while the tract across the street is a Moslem cemetery. It is, moreover, desirable that such a school should have a larger area than would be possible in a crowded Oriental city, especially as the farm is to form a promi- nent feature of the work of the school. Accordingly a large tract of land has been secured about two miles from the city. It lies on the summit and slope of a high hill and commands one of the noblest views in all the East. It is a superb site for an insti- tution ; near enough to the city to be easy of access, and yet far enough away to give ample room for development. The Beulah 518 Mission Schools Home Orphanage is already established at this site, and the whole institute will be transferred to it as soon as the necessary build- ings can be erected, though it is probable that some work, partic- ularly the day-schools, will continue to be done at the old site. The industrial departments are (i) farming and gardening; (2) masonry and plastering; (3) carpentry and joining ; (4) tailoring; (5) blacksmithing, etc. ; (6) shoemaking. A serious difficulty has been experienced in finding suitable Christian instructors. None of the missionaries had the requisite technical knowledge, and the resources of the institute did not permit the employment of suitable superintendents from the United States. As a temporary makeshift, therefore, arrange- ments were made with local tailors, carpenters, masons, etc., they to give free instruction to such boys as wished to learn their re- spective trades and to take the profits of the shops for their com- pensation. This plan has worked well enough financially. It has given foremen without cost to the institute, while on the other hand, free student labour has been a sufficient incentive to the local workmen. The difficulty is that these foremen have had, usually, no thorough training themselves, their knowledge being limited to the native methods and that they are apt to lack the patience and skill required to impart what they do know to a lot of boys who may be but languidly interested. Even more se- rious is the fact that such foremen, while men of excellent charac- ter, are for the most part not evangehcal Protestants, so that they are unable to exert that spiritual influence which we regard as so essential. In time, it is fair to expect that graduates of the insti- tute will become available for foremen in the various departments, and special effort should be made to develop the right men for this purpose. But for so large a school, a foreign mechanical su- perintendent is urgently needed, and with the added resources now made available by Mrs. Wood's offer, it is hoped that Dr. Ford can carry out his long cherished desire to obtain a foreign assistant, who will unite mechanical skill and missionary charac- ter. The boarding section of the primary department has now The Best Kind of Dividends jig been removed to the Beulah Home on the farm. The orphan- age edifice has been enlarged, and now has some fifty pupils. Mr. Stuart D. Jessup has entered upon his duties as teacher in Gerard Institute in the city. Buildings are now in process of erection (1909) on the farm hill. The main building is to be known as Ramapo Hall, the funds having been given to Dr. Ford by the Ramapo Church. In December, 1903, Mr. Stuart D. Jessup in his annual report of the institute gave some valuable facts about the training of native helpers. In this paper it was stated that of 1,019 students who have attended Gerard Institute up to 1902, 164 have taught in mission schools for from one to fourteen years, or nearly eight per year. Of 144 native helpers now employed by the mission, forty- seven received their training in whole or in part at Gerard, twenty-eight at Suk el Gharb, twenty-three at the college, six- teen at the old Abeih Academy, six at Shweir, fourteen at other mission schools and ten had no academic training. Of the thirty-five native preachers in the Syria Mission, ordained and licentiates, six received no academic training. Of the remaining twenty-nine, ten were trained in the old Abeih. Academy, ten at Gerard, four at Suk, three at the college, and two at other mission schools. It is clear, then, that such schools as Gerard and Suk are a necessity as long as native Syrian teachers and helpers are needed. The teaching of English in these schools is justified, 1st, by the fact that many of the boys intend to enter the college ; 2d, that those who become teachers of common schools may be able to teach the rudiments of English, The English occupation of Egypt and the emigration of tens of thousands of Syrians to America have given the English language an impetus in these old lands of Western Asia, which obliges all schools to teach English or lose their pupils. Emi- grants are constantly writing to their friends left behind in Syria, " Be sure and send your children to the American and English schools ! " ^2o Mission Schools SuK EL Gharb Boys' Boakding-School In the fall of 1883, this school was opened by Rev. T. S. Pond, who conducted it until June, 1889. It began with thirty-five boarders, and when Mr. Pond left Syria it had ninety-eight. During the six years it had about 250 pupils. Rev. O. J. Hardin took charge of it November 9, 1889, and the whole number under instruction during these sixteen years (1905) has been 852, from all the Syrian sects, Protestant, Greek, Maronite, Catholic, Druse, Moslem and Jewish. Of the gradu- ates, eighty-nine have been teachers ; twelve have been preachers ; five have been in the theological classes, and 133 have entered the Syrian Protestant College. Mr. Hardin aims not only to prepare boys for college, but to fit them for usefulness whether they become teachers or not. Arabic, English and French are well taught. Miss Effie Hardin has given her services gratui- tously, and has been most successful in teaching English so that her pupils are well prepared for freshman year in the college. It was proposed at one time to suspend the Suk school, or merge it in the boarding-school at Shvveir, or in the Tripoli school. But it has a distinct vocation from its situation in Druse Lebanon. The climate is healthful, summer and winter. The buildings of cut stone are the property of the Board of Missions, and the original structure was built under the auspices of the Scotch "Lebanon Schools," and dedicated in June, 1870, by the celebrated Dr. Alexander Duff, and his co-commissioner. Principal J. Lumsden, whose names were carved in the massive limestone blocks near the entrance on the west wall of the build- ing. Previous to that visit, the schools had been under the control of a Syrian superintendent, but in 1872, Rev. John Rae was sent out from Scotland to take charge as superintendent. As the Syrian, who had assured Dr. Duff that the property was bought with Scotch funds, refused to surrender the keys to Mr. Rae, legal proceedings were entered upon and Mr. Rae removed to Shweir in 1874, where he was succeeded by Dr. Carslaw in 1880. The Scotch Mission, having secured through the Lebanon A New Departure in the Orient 521 court the possession of the Suk el Gharb buildings after litiga- tion for fifteen years, sold them to the American Mission in March, 1889. Dr. Carslaw had been a lay medical missionary in Madras, and was ordained by the mission presbytery in Beirut, December, 1883, and in 1900 the Lebanon Schools Committee transferred all right and title to the Shweir property, consisting of a manse, a church and two school buildings, to the American Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. The United Free Church retain Dr. Carslaw as their missionary during his lifetime. The Asfuriyeh Hospital for the Insane On the 17th of April, 1896, it was my privilege to invite a number of foreign and Syrian residents of Beirut to meet in my study, to hear from Theophilus Waldmeier a statement of his plan to found a hospital for the insane in Syria. As a result ten of those present consented to act as an executive committee. Rev. John Wortabet, M. D., was elected president, H. H. Jessup secretary, Charles Smith, Esq., treasurer, and the other members were Theophilus Waldmeier, founder and business superintendent, Messrs. Shoucair and Khirullah, Syrians, Drs. Brigstocke and Graham, English, Dr. W. T. Van Dyck, American, and Pastor Otto Fritze, German. Mr. Waldmeier was then authorized to visit Europe, Great Britain, and the United States, to interest the public and to raise funds to buy land and erect buildings, A native of Germany, yet resident in the East for thirty-eight years and of large ex- perience in buying the site and erecting the four large edifices of the Friends' Mission in Brummana, Mount Lebanon, speaking German, English, French, and Arabic, and fully consecrated to devote the remaining years of his life to the relief of the mentally afficted as a service to Christ and humanity, he was admirably qualified for the laborious task, and succeeded well. He formed auxiliary committees in Switzerland, Holland, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and the United States, and raised 522 Mission Schools about ten thousand dollars. A central committee was formed in London composed of such men as Sir Richard Tangye, Dr. F. A. Elkins, Dr. R. Fortescue Fox, Dr. R, Percy Smith, Dr. David Yellowlees, Dr. A. T. Schofield, Dr. Bedford Pierce, Rev. J. Guinness Rogers, D. D., and Dr. R. Kingston Fox, and others, and a board of trustees was formed consisting of Wm. A. Albright and Joel Cadbury of Birmingham and Rev. C. A. Webster, M. D., and Rev. H. H. Jessup, D. D., of Beirut. Mr. Waldmeier returned to Syria in 1897, ^"^ after long searching and many journeys by sub-committees, we finally selected as the best site the place known as El Asfuriyeh, a beautiful elevation on one of the lower spurs of Lebanon, forty-five minutes from Beirut, yet under the Christian gov- ernment of Lebanon, 400 feet above sea-level, with an abundant supply of pure spring water, a large tract of land, three stone buildings, fine quarries of indurated cretaceous limestone for build- ing, a fertile soil, and a most salubrious, cheerful, and attractive site. We purchased it from Hishmet Beg, a courteous and high minded Turkish gentleman, long known as the upright treasurer of the Lebanon government, for about ;^9,ooo, and experience has proved that it was a most economical purchase. There are now thirty-four acres of land. Nine years have passed. Twelve stone buildings have been erected ; the administration building (enlarged), the men's ward, and isolating ward, the Holland kitchen, Dr. Thwaites' house, the house of Mr. Baumkamp, head nurse, the chapel, the clinic, the porter's lodge, the wash-house, and the tenant farmer's house. In addition to a perennial flowing spring of pure water, it has several rain-water cisterns. More than 600 patients have received treatment, of whom more that thirty-three per cent, have been discharged cured. The aver- age number treated annually is 155. This being the only organized hospital for the insane in Syria, patients come from Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Malta, Persia, India, and foreigners from Russia, Italy, Germany and Austria. They represent ten of Former Pitiable Fate of the Insane 523 the rehgious sects of the land : Mohammedans, Maronites, Jews, Orthodox Greeks, Druses, Papal Greeks, Metawilehs, Armenians, Roman Catholics, and Protestants. The work is international and undenominational, and appeals to the liberal in all lands and of all forms of religious faith. Un- like insane hospitals in civilized lands, it has no state aid and de- pends upon voluntary contributions. When we were planning for its organization in 1 896-1897, Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck said that " we need not expect the people to pay for the cure of their insane," but the facts prove that they will and do pay. In 1900 received from patients '* I90I " 1902 " 1903 " 1904 " 1905 " 1906 " 1907 «* 1908 £ 156 589 651 729 859 1,113 1,003 1,003.13 1,125 This is a remarkable result. Yet there are on an average thirty poor patients, unable to pay, who add largely to the deficit in the annual income. As the expenses of the hospital amount to about ^10,000 a year, about ^5,000 must come from outside donations, and an endowment is needed which would net the amount per annum. Under the business superintendence of Mr. Waldmeier, and the medical care of Dr. Thwaites, just succeeded by Dr. Watson Smith, with the aid of Mr. Baumkamp and Miss Ashley, with a corps of native male and female nurses, the institution is well equipped. Before this hospital was opened, the treatment of the insane was cruel beyond belief. They were beaten, chained, con- fined in damp, dark dungeons, or given over to priests who pro- fessed to exorcise the demons by cruel torture in the dark cavern 524 Mission Schools of the Convent of Kozheiya in Northern Lebanon. Some are cauterized in the head with red-hot irons. One priest in Brum- mana had an insane woman bound to a stone pillar head down- ward, read his formula for exorcism, fumigating her with incense until she began to curse him, when he beat her on the face with his large silver cross until the blood streamed down upon it. When she was released and had recovered her strength she ;ran six miles down the mountain to the sea and drowned her- self. In contrast the people say, " This hospital is the crown of good- ness and mercy." A native writer declares thebuildings, in their neatness and cleanliness, to be more like palaces than insane hospital wards. Dr. A. T. Schofield of London who visited Asfuriyeh declared it to be " a model institution." Dr. Mauser, director of the large Heldburghausen Asylum in Germany, in 1906 wrote, " I am astonished to find such an ex- cellent asylum in this country : the houses are well built with free admission of light and fresh air, clean, comfortable, and substan- tial, and what pleases me above all is the absence of the undesir- able walls, which even till now surround some of our asylums in Europe. The * bed treatment ' of the maniacal and excited patients is much better than the strong 'jackets.' " " The hospital now stands," as Mr. Waldmeier says in the re- port, March, 1907, " as a beautiful object-lesson before us, in which a loving, Christian, humane treatment of the patients, combined with modern alienistic science, can be observed. Iron chains have to give way to freedom, atrocities and cruelties to Christian love and kindness, exorcism to sound reason, filthy and dangerous to clean and airy rooms, and ignorance to the light of the Gospel and civilization." This work, though not under a missionary board, is a child of missions, and under the management of Christian men. I regard the time and strength I have given to it as secretary for ten years, as work done for Christ and His suffering ones, and in this respect it is Christian missionary work. The Hospital Treasurers 525 Beirut Executive Committee R. W. Brigstocke, M. D., Chairman. Rev. H. H. Jessup, D. D., Secretary. C. Sigrist, Consul and Banker, Treasurer. Theophilus Waldmeier, Founder and Business Su- perinte7ident. Harris Graham, B. A., M. D. Rev. C. A. Webster, B.A., M.D. Rev. G. M. Mackie, D. D. Franklin T. Moore, M. D., Auditor. J. J. Effendi Shoucair. A. Effendi Kheirallah. Walter Booth Adams, M. A., M.D. Watson Smith, M. R. C. S., Medical Superintendent. London Treasurer, Lady Tangye, 35 Queen Victoria Street, London, E. C. Philadelphia, Pa., Treasurer, Asa S. Wing, 409 Chestnut Street. New York 7reasurer,H.emy W. Jessup, Esq., 31 Nassau Street. XXIII Sketches (1887) Miss Everett APRIL 6th the Beirut Boarding-School for Girls cele- brated its twenty-fifth anniversary, and Miss Eliza D. Everett, who had been nineteen years at the head of the school, bade her pupils good-bye in view of her departure for America. After an absence of two years, she returned in 1889 and remained six years until June, 1895, when she resigned and returned to America, and died February, 1902, She thus fulfilled twenty-five years of successful teaching in the Beirut school. She was attractive in appearance, highly intellectual, thoroughly cultivated and consecrated to the service of Christ and her Syrian sisters. She was revered and loved by her pupils, and in 1904^ the alumnae of the school in Egypt presented to the institution a valuable oil painting of Miss Everett. It is impossible to estimate the amount of good wrought by her in the Christian homes of Syria and Egypt. They rise up on every side and call her blessed. NoFEL Effendi Nofel Nofel Effendi Nofel, one of the finest specimens of Christian manhood I have ever met, died August 9, 1887, in Tripoli. His family was the famous Nofel family of Tripoli, and his father, a government official, was tortured to death by impalement, be- cause he would not yield to the infamous orders of that monster, Jezzar Pasha, of Acre. When I removed to Beirut in i860, Nofel Effendi was chief clerk in the Beirut custom-house, and a fine scholar in Arabic and Turkish. Early in 1862, he united with the Beirut church and became a vigorous champion of the evangelical faith. Dur- ing the summer he passed through a somewhat remarkable re- 526 Nofel EfFendi 527 ligious experience, a veritable temptation by the devil. He was troubled with blasphemous thoughts which increased to such an extent that he gave himself up as lost. His language was not unUke that of Bunyan in his " grace abounding," and only after protracted struggles in prayer and study of God's Word and finally resolving to go forward and do his duty in both light and darkness, did he find any rehef. The Spirit of God led him out into the light although through a painful struggle. Nofel Effendi wrote several valuable Arabic works, a history of the religions of the East, a history of the Arabs, and a reply to the Romish priests. After removing to Tripoli in 1868, he became an elder in the Tripoli church, and was a pillar indeed, a man of strong faith, noble bearing, great modesty, a model of courtesy and hospitality, and a wise counsellor to people of all sects who came to consult him. His success as an author was more remarkable as he knew no foreign tongue but Turkish, and his early opportunities for study were extremely meagre. Had he the thorough training of the present course (1908) of the Syrian Protestant College, he would have made his mark throughout the East. As it was he was one of the builders of the fabric of reform in modern Syria. In the fall there was an evident work of the Spirit among a number of young men from Hasbeiya living in Beirut, and among the students in Abeih Seminary. July 2ist my two daughters, Mary and Amy, and my sister Fanny left, under the care of Dr. and Mrs. Fisher, for America. This separation from children during the formative period of their lives is one of the trials of a foreign missionary. But it is inevi- table, and is no more than foreigners in business or civil or mili- tary service have to endure. A child may remain in Syria until > the age of fifteen with safety to health, but the training in the home land is far superior in surroundings, in the Christian at- mosphere, and the higher standard of morals and life than any- thing the children have seen around them in such a land as this, that we may well make the sacrifice and bear the separation for i 528 Sketches I their intellectual and spiritual welfare. The missionary parent / can trust a covenant-keeping God to care for His children, and in I the great majority of cases the children of missionaries have ! proved to be an honour to their parents and true members of ' the Church of Christ. From beyond the sea came tidings of the death of Rev. D. M. Wilson, formerly of Tripoli and Hums. He came to Syria in March, 1848, and left for America in May, 1861, after about thirteen years of faithful service. The aristocratic airs of the people of Tripoli did not suit him, and he rejoiced to remove in 1856 to Hums, where among the more simple minded and in- genuous Greek weavers of that semi-pastoral city, he took delight in preaching and explaining the Word of God. He was the founder of the church in Hums, now one of the most flourishing and liberal of all the churches in Syria. For three years I corresponded with him by camel post, a shoemaker in Tripoli and a weaver in Hums acting as our postal agents. His letters were always pithy and pointed and I regret that I have none kept on file. No Syrian missionary was more mighty in the Scriptures and more facile in handling the Arabic proof texts. He soon had crowds of the young men of Hums gathered nightly at his house to hear the Word of God. In i860 he narrowly escaped being shot by the Arabs, at a time when the whole country was in a state of civil war and ter- rorism. He had heard rumours of trouble in Lebanon, and set out with his teacher, Mr. Sulleeba Jerawan, for Tripoli to consult Mr. Lyons as to duty in the threatening state of affairs. When three miles from Hums, by the bridge of the Orontes, a body of mounted Arabs surrounded them and held a parley as to their fate. Not supposing that Mr. Wilson understood Arabic, one of them said, " Let us kill them, strip them, and throw them into the river." Another said, " No, we cannot do that without orders from the emir." So they took them several miles south to the camp. When the emir came, they told him their story and asked why his men had arrested them on the Sultan's highway. D. M. Wilson — J. Lorenzo Lyons 529 The emir said, " Do you not know that the whole land is rising, and we hear that orders have come to kill all foreigners and na- tive Christians ? Why did you not take an armed guard from the government ? I will take you back to Hums and hand you over to the governor. He can give you a guard. But do not venture out again alone on the road." It was a lesson to Mr. Wilson and has been a lesson to many missionaries since. I see no need of bearing arms. If the country is safe, you do not need them. If not, you can get a guard. In March, my old schoolmate and townsman, my seminary chum, and missionary colleague, Rev. J. L. Lyons, died in Florida, aged sixty-four years. We were brought up in the same village, Montrose, Pa., decided on the missionary work about the same time. Our room in Union Seminary was the rallying-place for students considering the missionary question. Rev. J. Lorenzo Lyons was born April 18, 1824, graduated at Williams College in 1 851, and at Union Theological Seminary May, 1854. He sailed for Syria November 19, 1854, having married Miss Catherine N. Plumer, of South Berwick, Maine, in October. He spent a year in Beirut and Lebanon, when I joined him and we were stationed together at Tripoli, Syria, where he remained until June, 1861, when he was transferred to Sidon where he laboured for three years. During the massacre summer of i860, he was actively engaged in visiting the refugee Christians and desolated villages of the Baalbec district, distributing charity to the needy. A serious illness in February, 1857, affected his head and sight to such an extent that for years his writing and most of his reading were done by the aid of his devoted wife. He returned to America in June, 1863, and for five years was confined for the most part of the time to his bed. He then rallied in a most remarkable manner, and from the year 1871 to 1888 was engaged as district agent of the American Bible Society for Florida and Georgia. His foreign missionary experience, his affability, his knowledge of human nature, and his conscientious fidelity to the work of his ^30 Sketches Master made him acceptable to the people. He had a keen sense of humour, was a fine musician, fond of travel, genial in his inter- course with the Syrian people, and wise in counsel. He longed to return to Syria but his physicians would not consent. His uncle, Rev. Lorenzo Lyons, was one of the first mission- aries to the Sandwich Islands. His widow, and son John Plumer, who graduated at Harvard in 1882, survive him. In May we had a visit from General Haig,'an English officer, explorer, and missionary. He delivered a lecture on his recent journeys in Southern Arabia, to Sunaa in Yemen, the Arabia Felix of the ancients, a country of surpassing beauty and fertility, on high table-land, 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea-level, abounding in rich productions. From Sunaa, he went south to Aden, among friendly Arab tribes. He strongly urged sending missionaries to Arabia. He went to Muscat, Bahrein, and Bus- sorah and thence to Bagdad. He was ten days of twenty-one hours each in crossing the plains from Bagdad to Damascus. The camels browsed as they loped lazily along. But they got through safely. General Haig was a fine specimen of the Chris- tian British officer. Dr. Michaiel Meshaka On the 6th of July, 1888, died Dr. Michaiel Meshaka, the Martin Luther of Syria. He was an able physician, self-taught by studying the works of the Boulak Press in Cairo, Egypt. He was a fine astronomer and had calculated all the eclipses for a century to come. Born a Roman Cathohc in Mount Lebanon, March 2, 1799, he lapsed into skepticism, but was converted through the labour of Dr. Eli Smith and Dr. Van Dyck, and especially by studying " Alexander's Evidences of Christianity," and " Keith on Prophecy." A master of the Arabic language, he now used his pen to expose the unscriptural errors of the papacy and wrote a series of books, at times as caustic and severe as anything Luther ever -O ri Dr. Meshaka 531 wrote, but full of argument, Scripture, historical reference, and irresistible logic. His books had a wide circulation and had a mighty influence in shaking the despotic sway of the priesthood over the minds and consciences of the Syrian Oriental Christians. He was a great friend of the Emir Abd el Kadir and of all the Mohammedan sheikhs and Ulema. Pashas and European con- suls consulted him and he was made American vice-consul in Damascus. Some of his historical writings are still in manu- script, being too personal as to the powers that be to make it safe for his family to publish them.^ He was a warm friend of the American and Irish Presbyterian missionaries in Damascus, Dr. Paulding, Dr. Lansing, Dr. Barnett, Dr. J. Crawford, Dr. S. Robson, Dr. J. L. Porter, Mr. Frazier, and the lamented Graham who was killed in the massacre of i860. We have already noted his escape from massacre. In July, 1888, Rev. F. E. Hoskins, who had taught three years in the Syrian Protestant College and then returned to America to complete his theological studies, reached Syria and was married August 22d, to Miss Harriette M. Eddy of the Sidon Girls' School. They were stationed in Zahleh where they remained until 1900, when they were transferred to Beirut, owing to the death of Mrs. Hoskins' father, Dr. W. W. Eddy, so long a member of the Beirut station. The same year, October 31st, Rev. and Mrs. W. S. Nelson ar- rived in Syria and began work in Tripoli. Six theological students graduated in June. Three of them are in business in America, one is dead, and two are now (1908) faithfully preaching the Gospel in Syria. Thus far, no means have been found by which our theological students can be bound to remain and serve their own country. The temptation to amass wealth by emigration is the touchstone by which the tone, character, and spirit of young men are tested. Those who * Under the new free Ottoman government, his history, "Meshed ul Aiyan," has now been published by the " Helal " Press in Cairo, an Arabic book of 200 pages. 532 Sketches stand the test and resist the temptation are of good stuff and can be relied upon. But alas, a considerable number yield to the tempter and are lost to the Church of Syria and it is difficult to say whether they are ever connected with the Church in America. H. E. Wassa Pasha, Mutserrif of Mount Lebanon, was at one time induced by false statements of certain petty officials to enter complaint to the American consul against our schools in Lebanon, but through the efforts of our efficient consul, Mr. Bissinger, he changed his views as completely as his predecessor, Rustam Pasha, had done. On the 28th of February, a delegation of the missionaries con- sisting of Drs. D. Bliss, W. W. Eddy, J. S. Dennis, and S. Jessup and Mr. Pond and H. H. Jessup, called upon him at his house in Beirut. The pasha was most affable and said, " Assure your friends and your government that I will do all in my power to protect you and your work." And it has always been found by experience that friendly, informal visits to the officials of the country will disarm suspicion. As a rule, the Turkish officials are personally friendly, and the better educated among them appreciate the benevolent work being done by the Americans in the empire. They often say, " We like you personally and understand your political and beneficial work, but you represent a republic. We fear the spread of republican ideas among our people." We as- sure them that we never propagate political theories, and always teach our Syrian preachers and teachers to pray for the Sultan. XXIV Three Years of Progress (1888) Oscar Straus — St, Paul's Institute — Bakir — Map making — Jedaan — Kamil. DURING this year, we were kept busy by the Ottoman government because of a series of orders closing our schools on the ground of illegality ; — that they had no permits, and then refusing to grant them permits ; demanding diplomas of our teachers and lists of our text-books and courses of study, when no such demands were made upon other foreign schools. Consul Bissinger at Beirut and Minister Oscar Straus at the Porte fought the battle out and obtained finally an order from Munif Pasha, Minister of Public Instruction, that all the old established schools of the Americans in the empire be recog- nized by the government as though they had official firmans. This gave us rest for a time. But the new Waly of Beirut, Ali Riza Pasha, who reached Beirut March 8th, after a long inter- view with Mr. Bissinger, agreed to order the reopening of all our recently closed schools on condition that only CJiristian children be received. Mr. Bissinger and Minister Straus absolutely re- fused to accept such an odious condition, and finally the schools were reopened without conditions. Much has been published since that time and much has been done in the way of securing recognition of the American schools. The medical college in Beirut is visited every year by an imperial medical commission, who, in connection with the American faculty, examine the stu- dents and confer upon the worthy the imperial medical diploma. Various questions with regard to the American institutions re- main unsettled, but, as a rule, the established day-schools, board- ing-schools, and colleges are not interfered with. Where the government refuses a permit, it is generally through fear that a 533 ^34 Three Years of Progress school or hospital with a permit may refuse to pay taxes. In this respect, the Americans would cheerfully pay taxes if the institutions of other nationalities did the same. But to be asked to do what no one else does, and to bear burdens which the Sultan has excused others from bearing, savours too strongly of injustice and partiality to be meekly endured by an American official. In April, 1888, Minister Oscar Straus visited Beirut. All were impressed with his intellectual ability, suavity of manner, high- toned patriotism, legal knowledge, and consummate tact. Our government was never better represented than by this American Israelite, who was, as he said, " first an American and second a Jew." He was " suaviter in modo, fortiter in re." His removal was a blunder and an injury to American interests. I have never ceased to respect him as a man and to esteem him as a friend. No one could charge him with being prejudiced in favour of Protestant Missions, yet Protestant Missions in the East never had a more energetic, discreet, or efficient defender. His con- victions in favour of religious liberty are set forth in his fine book on the life of Roger Williams. The vicious and shiftless spoils system of political appointment to our foreign diplomatic serv- ice, which prevailed in those days and has only now in the days of Secretaries Hay and Root been radically changed, sacrificed Mr. Straus just when he was on the eve of negotiating a natural- ization treaty with the Sublime Porte which would have saved both governments infinite annoyance and constant friction and misunderstanding. ^ ^~ In May Mr. William Bird accompanied his daughter, Mrs. Alice Greenlee, to America, and I was placed in charge of Abeih station. I made frequent trips on horseback through Southern Lebanon, examining schools, visiting the churches, and adminis- tering the ordinances. As Colonel Shepard had appointed brother Samuel Jessup and myself members of the Advisory Board of St. Paul's Institute at St. Paul's Institute 535 Tarsus, I went to Tarsus and Adana in May with Mrs. Jessup to attend the first annual meeting. Rev. Messrs. McLachlan and Jenanyan were the faculty, and already there were indications of an incompatibility which almost invariably develops itself where any institution in the East is placed under the dual control of an Oriental and an Occidental. Both of these teachers were strong, able men, but somehow they could not work harmoniously. Eastern ideas differ from ours. Where Eastern men, with funds raised from Orientals, manage Oriental institutions and enter- prises, they generally succeed. But the East cannot understand the West in the matter of managing Western funds. Years after this, when matters had twice come to a rupture, Mr, Jenanyan came to Beirut and laid the whole case before us. I saw that the trouble was not in the American nor in the Armenian, but in that mixture of Occidental alkali with Oriental acid, which always produces effervescence. I then wrote a long document to the New York Board of Trustees, which I read to Mr. Jenanyan, and which he approved, advising that hereafter St. Paul's Institute be made either wholly Armenian with Mr. Jenanyan at its head, or wholly American with an American at its head. The latter plan was adopted and the school is a success. Mr. Jenanyan has opened another school in Iconium (Konieh) and we hear no more of friction and mis- understanding. While in Tarsus, we visited the reputed tomb of Sardanapalus, the falls of the river Cydnus, where Alexander the Great came near drowning while bathing ; then to the old Western Gate, the Protestant and Armenian Churches, and the so-called tomb of Daniel ! In the luxuriant gardens watered by streams of living water from the Cydnus, we ate for the first time the luscious fruit of the Akedunya or Medlar, which grows much larger there than in more southerly climes. Mr. Montgomery of the American Board in Adana asked me to address the Wednesday evening meeting. It was a scene long to be remembered. About one thousand men and women were 53^ Three Years of Progress assembled in the large church, all seated on the floor on mats. When no more could wedge their way in, the pastor asked all to rise and close up ranks, and then all sit down together. The mass was thus contracted in superficial area and more could find sitting room. As the people speak only Turkish, I could not use my Arabic, but I spoke in English and Mr. Montgomery trans- lated. I never saw a more attentive audience. In the Adana congregation I was introduced to a sprightly man, who claimed to be one hundred and thirteen years old. He went every year out to the great wheat field in the Adana plain to help in the harvest, but this year, owing to the weakness of his limbs, the church had bought him a donkey on which he rode out every morning to the reapers. His memory of the days of Sultan Mahmoud H, and other notables of the last seventy and eighty years, led the missionaries to believe his claim to be correct. Dr. Metheny lived at that time in Mersina. For years he had lived in Latakia working among the pagan Nusairiyeh and re- moved to Mersina to labour for tribes of the same people on the plain of Tarsus and Adana. He was a skillful surgeon and a tender-hearted, sympathizing man. 1 In June two men interested in work among the Arab tribes of I Syria and Arabia visited Beirut, Mr. Von Tassel, an American, and Bishop Thomas Valpy French, late Bishop of Lahore and now resolved to give the last of his life to Arabia. He made an address at the house of Mrs. A. Mentor Mott and interested us all greatly in the zeal of a man, who, after forty years of labour in North India, was going to Muscat on the Persian Gulf to end his days. Dr. Zwemer describes him in his " Arabia, the Cradle of Islam," and truly his zeal for the salvation of the Arabs de- voured him. Mr. Von Tassel came out in youthful zeal and en- thusiasm, set about learning Arabic and afterwards brought out a large camp equipment, intending to go into the desert and dwell among the Aneyzy Arabs, live their nomad life summer and winter, and identify himself with them. Under any other government he might have succeeded, or had he come twenty Von Tassel's Frustrated Plans 537 years sooner, before the Ottoman government had begun to sus- pect every traveller among the Bedawin of being a military spy, or a European agent to distribute arms among the Arabs and raise them to revolt. But Hassan Bey's filibustering fiasco a few years before, and a growing idea that the British are in league with the Arabs, made Mr. Von Tassel's scheme an impos- sibility. When he landed at the port of Tripoli, fifty miles north of Beirut, his tents and equipage were stopped and only released after long delay. A description of the man and all his baggage was telegraphed to Constantinople. On reaching Hums, he set up his tents outside the walls, one of them a large triple tent of green water-proof canvas. Crowds assembled to see the sight, but least welcome of all was a guard of Turkish soldiers ordered to watch Mr. Von Tassel's every movement and prevent his hav- ing any communication with Arabs of any tribe in the region. He was thus thoroughly quarantined, and soon orders came from the Waly of Damascus forbidding him to travel to any point east of Hamath, Hums and Damascus. Othello's occupation was now gone. He had not been sent out to labour among towns and cities but only to the wandering tribes of the desert who number hundreds of thousands. After waiting until patience ceased to be a virtue, he returned to Beirut, sold out his tents, beds, and equipage, and left the country in 1892. Dr. Ford has to this day (1908) the triple tent and others have mementoes of this illustration of governmental persecution and repression. SiTT Miriam and the Shazaliyeh It was during this summer that Sitt Miriam, a Mohammedan lady of the Shazaliyeh sect from Koraun in the Bookaa, north of Mount Hermon, set out on a preaching tour in Syria. She ad- vocated reform and an upright life, denounced bribery and cor- ruption and insisted that all, Moslems, Christians and Jews, are brothers. She preached in the mosques in Damascus, Hasbeiya, Sidon, Tyre, and other cities, rebuking the sins of the people. Telegrams were sent to Constantinople asking for orders to silence her, but orders came to let her alone. 538 Three Years of Progress This sect is numerous in Syria and its members advocate the reading of the Old and New Testaments and fraternization with the Christians. One of their sheikhs once called on me, and in the course of a very calm conversation, repeated from memory a large part of the Gospel of St. John, explaining the meaning of the first chapter in a peculiar, mystic sort of way in which the true spiritual intent seemed lost sight of and vapourized. But the man was in earnest and he said he was one of a company of twenty-five who meet to study the Bible. Another eccentric character, who had been in Beirut several years, was banished in September, He was a Persian named Bakir, and professed to have discovered a new compromise re- ligion on which Moslems, Christians, and Jews could unite. He had lived in England and came to Beirut as a Christian in 1884 and asked aid for his sick wife who was placed in St. John's hos- pital. March 5, 1885, Rev. Dr. H. A. Nelson, who was visiting Beirut, had hired Bakir to translate into English a Persian fare- well address presented to Dr. Nelson during his recent visit to the missions in Persia, and Bakir brought the translation to my house to read it to Dr. Nelson. Bakir had with him a package of tracts in English setting forth his peculiar mystic incongruous views on religion and gave them to Dr. Nelson. The doctor took his hand to say good-bye and said in substance, " I thank you for your translation, and am soon to leave for America. We may not meet in this world, but I hope that through the merits of Jesus Christ, our atoning Saviour and Redeemer, we may meet at the last in the heavenly home on high." Bakir flew back, his eyes flashed fire, and he screamed so loud that the cook came running in from the kitchen to see what was the matter. He raved and shouted, " I scorn your Christ, your atonement, your sacrifice. You Christians are idolaters, the enemies of God, and accursed. Let me hear no more of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. No, we shall not meet above unless you receive Mohammed as the Prophet of God ! " His language at times was too coarse and vile to bear repetition. I tried to soothe him and change the subject, but he acted like a lunatic and stamped No More Death ! 539 across the court and out of the house, shouting and storming un- til the whole neighbourhood was roused, and we were glad to get rid of him. He worked upon the young son of Ramiz Beg, the Kadi of Beirut, and was forming a society of religious reform (!) on the basis of a union of Islam and Christianity by all Christians becoming Moslems. The old story of the hon and lamb lying down together, the lamb inside the lion ; — but Bakir was reported by telegraph to Constantinople and both he and the kadi's son, Jemal-ed-Din, were banished, Bakir in September and the other youth at a later date. The East is still fertile soil for religious vagaries, but the West bids fair to bear off the palm. One only needs to spend a month in Jerusalem to see and hear of men and women from the West who have views, who are inspired, who out-Dowie Dowie, and who have visions and gifts of prophecy. Some years ago, a friend of mine visiting Jerusalem met a queer-looking solitary stranger pacing back and forth in the streets of the Holy City and accosted him, and after the usual greetings, said to him, " You are an American, I infer." " Yes, I am." " And what are you doing here, if I may ask? " " Ah, yes, I'm glad you asked. You see I've come here to preach the new doctrine, that there is to be no more death. If men will only accept it, we'll abolish death and there'll be no more dying, nor graves, nor coffins, nor funerals. We shall just hve right on." Our friend said to him, " But supposing you should sicken and die, what then ? " " Oh," said he, " that would bust the whole thing ! " And it did. The poor delirious apostle died a few months later and with him his " new doctrine." October 26th Professor Hilprecht, who was on his way to Bagdad, asked me to go with him to the Dog River to find if possible a Latin inscription discovered by Professor Paine but not identified since. As I had not seen it for several years, I doubted my ability to find it. But by dint of examining every rock face along the old Roman road, at length, about eighteen paces east of the stone pedestal on the summit, I found the smooth surface 540 Three Years of Progress of the limestone rock and the traces of the inscription. Professor Hilprecht proceeded to take a " squeeze " of it and found it to be an inscription often lines, mostly effaced. He also read the famous so-called Sennacherib cuneiform in- scription, and found it to be of Esar Haddon and not Sennacherib. Across the river next to the mill is the inscription in cuneiform characters of the great Nebuchadnezzar, in which the principal sentence remaining unobliterated reads, " the wine of Helbon is good " — showing that the people of Helbon, north of Damascus, who to this day have fruitful vineyards, brought over wine to the King of Babylon and he immortalized again the wine already made famous by the prophet Ezekiel (27 : 18) in speaking of the widely-extended commerce of Tyre : " Damascus was thy mer- chant in the wine of Helbon and white wool." During the year 1888 I rode on horseback in frequent tours nearly six hundred miles through the gorges and ridges of Mount Lebanon. Mr. Bird returned from America in December, Rev. and Mrs. W. S. Nelson arrived with Miss Holmes for Tripoli, and the mis- sionary corps was well reinforced. In December, with an expert scribe, I made a new Arabic map of Syria which was lithographed at our Beirut Press. Map making in general is difficult in this empire. You must not allow the word Armenia to appear in any map or atlas of ancient or modern Turkey. Neither will it do to make a map " of many colours," as is the rule in all maps made in civilized countries. We made a map of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Arabia, and had copies neatly coloured, showing clearly the out- lines of the different provinces and presented one to the Governor of Beirut and another to the " Mudir el Maarif," or Superintendent of Public Instruction. They were both brought back by the mudir, who indignantly asked, " Why is Egypt coloured one colour and Syria another and Arabia another and Asia Minor another? Do they not all belong to the Sultan ? " It would not do to insult the zealous official by laughing in his JBDAAN THE BEDAWY Conversion of Jedaan, the Bedawy 541 face, but we apologized and explained and humbly promised hereafter to make Egypt and Arabia the same colour as the rest of the empire. A polychrome means to the watchful officials polyglot and poly national and polypolitics. So we try to con- form to the laws and avoid having our press suppressed by using anything beyond a monochrome. From their standpoint, Turkey is a unit. All subjects are Osmanlies, and the great father in Constantinople will have noth- ing of Arab or Egyptian or Armenian or Macedonian. All are Ottoman subjects and divisions, names and designations are abso- lutely prohibited. We have no fault to find with this. We are strangers and the guests of the Sultan, and we are bound in honour to conform to the laws. This we have always done and intend to do in the future. We really enjoy greater liberty than the native subjects of the Porte. It is hard to see the people around us taxed and overtaxed, oppressed and outraged by un- scrupulous petty officials with no appeal. This to me has been my greatest trial of my fifty years in Syria, to see wrongs which you cannot right and sufferings which you cannot relieve, while the American flag protects our persons and frees us from op- pression. 1889 — On the 1 6th of January, my brother-in-law, Radcliffe B. Lockwood, Esq., of Binghamton, accompanied me on a horse- back trip sixty miles south to visit the out-stations and conduct a communion service in Ibl, west of Mount Hermon. February 2 1st I baptized Jedaan Owad, the converted Aneyzy Bedawy, a fine, clear-headed, sensible young man who had been under instruction for two years. He came to Lebanon to sell sheep, fell in with Christians, determined to learn to read, perse- vered, and at length became convinced that salvation was in Christ alone. He afterwards studied in the school at Suk el Gharb, and, while a fellow student with Kamil, made a tour with him among the Arab tribes, summering near Hums and Hamath, and then returned to his tribe. For nineteen years he has stood firm, coming to visit his Christian friends every year. ^^2 Three Years of Progress In March I visited Egypt with a party of friends as their guest, and preached in Alexandria, Cairo, Asioot, Luxor, and Assowan. The Egyptian pronunciation of the Arabic differs from the Syrian, but I had no difficulty in understanding them and they seemed to understand me. On the 29th of May, 1888, we received the official " Permit " for the American Press, which had existed since 1834, a term of fifty-four years. In accepting this permit, Dr. Samuel Jessup agreed to abide by the press laws of the empire, which we had always done since finding out what these laws were. June 1 2th my brother Samuel sailed for America on furlough, and on his arrival, was appointed assistant secretary of the Board during the absence of Dr. Arthur Mitchell on his journey around the world. Mr. Pond and family also returned to America and subsequently laboured in Colombia and Venezuela. Dr. Ira Harris and family returned from America July 15th. In July the Waly, Rauf Pasha, removed to Bitlis and Aziz Pasha came in his place. It was my painful duty to go to the custom-house and bid farewell to forty-six English books which had been ordered by various American citizens, but which were refused admission to this empire as being " dangerous, obnoxious, and unsafe." At first the censor resolved to burn them, but at the protest of our consul, changed the sentence from burning at the stake to exile. Even exile was no easy matter. The box was sealed and a list of the books given to the censor for transmission to the Turkish consul in New York who was to be notified by the treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions to be present at the opening at the New York custom-house, and to give a certificate (and re- ceive his fee) that the very books which were banished from Syria had reached New York. Among them were the Koran, " The Land and the Book," Stanley's " Sinai and Palestine," " Minutes of the General Assembly," " Catalogue of Union Theo- logical Seminary," " Introduction to the New Testament," " His- tory of Russia," " History of Persia," etc. We bade them farewell with the confident hope of seeing them A Dollar's Worth of Eulogy 543 again some day, and we did see them. The New York agent, Mr. Dulles, after receiving the books, wrapped them in packages and sent them by the French mail via Paris, and in due time they all arrived and were delivered to their respective owners, costing ^2.90 postage in all. Not one of them contained a word con- trary to law or good morals, or an attack on the Turkish gov- ernment. In September the Turkish authorities began a new campaign against our schools and closed the Hamath school by force. The instigator of this action, as has generally been the case in that district, was the Greek bishop, who bribed the local officials, and thus secured the closing of the school. The school was after- wards reopened after long correspondence and telegraphing to Constantinople. In August an interesting character called, a Syrian Moham- medan, Jaafar Mohammed. He had been fourteen years in Irak and Teheran and had been twice in prison for associating with Christians. I gave him a Testament and he set forth, bound, as he said, for Algiers and Morocco. He claimed to be a Christian and was well acquainted with the Scriptures. While in Beirut he wrote a Kosidi, or Arabic poem in praise of me, and an elegy on my father and grandfather, in the most effervescent panegyric. As he probably did it in imitation of the old Arab poets, who recited poetry before the caliphs of Bagdad to receive largesses of money, I could not do less than give him a mejeedie or Turkish dollar to help him on his way. I think he inflicted a similar poem on Dr. Van Dyck. Not a few men of his stamp are con- stantly floating restlessly about the East, They may be sincere. The Lord knoweth them that are His, and the intolerant spirit of Islam will not allow an " apostate " to dwell in peace among them, and this intolerance is a confession of weakness. Neither Rome nor Mecca will let alone a convert from their ranks. Protestantism is virtually the only non-persecuting system of modern times, for it has long since repudiated the use of force in religion. There will never be another Servetus tragedy. 544 Three Years of Progress In November Rev. O. J. Hardin returned to Syria and occupied the Suk el Gharb station, nine miles from Beirut on a spur of Lebanon, 2,500 feet above the sea, thus maintaining the work begun by Mr. Pond, and reopening the boys' boarding-school. During the fall Beirut was visited by another epidemic of the dengue fever called by the Arabs Abu Rikab or " father of the knees," a short, painful fever, never fatal, but leaving the system greatly debilitated. Thousands of cases were reported in Beirut and both Drs. Van Dyck and Post were prostrated by it. We were in Aleih, Mount Lebanon, and had the privilege of opening our house to our beloved missionary brother, Rev. Dr. Harvey of Cairo, who was suffering from malarial fever. His daughter was with him, and he improved steadily. Dr. Wells gave him seventy grains of quinine and the fever was broken. Not long after. Dr. Wells was taken down with Abu Rikab in Beirut. About this time the little son of one of the missionaries made considerable amusement by trying an original prescription for fever. A missionary from Arabia was lying sick at his father's house, and one day the little fellow came to his bedside with a measuring-tape and began to measure him. " What are you doing ? " said the invalid. •' I am measuring you so as to make you a coffin." " Why do you do that ? " " Because it will cure you. My rabbit was ill and father said he was going to die. So I made him a coffin and put him in, but he jumped out and ran off and after that he was perfectly well. So I thought I would make you a coffin and you would get well ! " (He did !) In September Dr. Harris Graham, of the American Board's Mission in Aleppo, accepted a call to the medical department of the Syrian Protestant College. News came of a great revival of religion in Aintab and 600 conversions. That city has been marvellously blessed with re- vivals, and its three churches are models of liberality and Chris- Mary Eddy's Consecration to Her Great Work ^^^ tian work. No such congregation can be found anywhere else in the Turkish Empire and the pastors have been men of learning and spiritual power. During this year I had charge of the press, reading proofs, conducting all the business correspondence, ordering materials, and paying the men. The custom-house business was large and consumed much valuable time, but it must be done, and this pressure on the time of ordained missionaries led the mission to insist on the sending out of a Christian layman with a business training, to take up this entire secular work. This was effected in 1895, when Mr. E. G. Freyer, the present able and efficient manager of the press, came to Beirut and has continued to do the work to the satisfaction of both the mission and the Board. In October an event occurred which was striking in itself and far-reaching in its results. Miss Mary P. Eddy, daughter of Dr. W. W. Eddy, was dangerously ill with high burning fever and an alarming temperature which yielded to no remedies, until Drs. Van Dyck, father and son, pronounced the case hopeless. She asked the prayers of the native and foreign Protestant Churches, and one by one, bade farewell to all her friends. She lingered on, seemingly on the brink of dissolution, when suddenly an ab- scess broke, relief came, a large number of gall-stones were re- moved, and convalescence set in. During her illness she had resolved that if she were spared, she would study medicine and devote herself to relieving the sufferings of the women of Syria. On her recovery, she went to America, completed her studies, received her diploma, came to Constantinople, and after over- coming the seeming insurmountable difficulties and objections of the imperial medical faculty, passed the severe examinations and received the imperial diploma as physician and surgeon ; the only woman thus far who has been permitted to receive the imperial diploma. Up to the year 1908 she has visited hundreds of villages, treated thousands of cases, and wherever she goes, she is sur- rounded by throngs of the impotent folk begging for treatment. 546 Three Years of Progress Now appeared on the scene what seemed to be two tall white turbaned Moors with black burnouses, no stockings, and red pointed shoes. They called on me and stated that they were missionaries to Morocco in Mogador. One, Baldwin, was an American, and the other, Richmond, an Englishman. They always wore the native dress. They set out from Morocco to come to Syria first, to seek Syrian Christian helpers to go back with them, and to arrange to send out their young missionaries to Syria to learn Arabic, preparatory to work in Morocco. They said they left Morocco in white woollen ahbas or burnouses, but they were so blackened by coal smoke that they had them dyed black at Port Said. But their whole appearance was impressive. They looked like dervishes or fakirs. One missionary lady, who invited them to dinner, said afterwards that when they entered her house and she saw their John-the-Baptist-in-the-wilderness appearance, she felt she ought to provide for them a repast of locusts and wild honey ! I took them to the college and the theological classes where their addresses in English (they had not learned the Arabic) were translated and deeply affected the students. Their ascetic mien and devout language impressed us all, and one young Syrian, Hassan Soleyman, volunteered to go with them to Morocco. On November 27th Mr. Baldwin sailed for Morocco and Mr. Rich- mond went to Suk el Gharb to study Arabic. On Sunday Mr. Baldwin preached in English on Isaiah 6, and in the afternoon ad- dressed a mass meeting of Sunday-school children calling for twelve volunteer Syrian missionaries, who would go to Morocco in faith without any pledged support. He told of the dozens of Mohammedans whom he had baptized and the glorious results of his work. He afterwards sent out two fine young Englishmen to study Arabic in Mount Lebanon. He then began to publish in the London Christian a series of articles on " the Matthew 10 theory of missions " ; that foreign missionaries should go forth with neither purse nor scrip, dress Hke the natives and live on the natives with no salary, trusting m God. He clinched his argu- The Baldwin Bubble 547 ments by his asserted actual experience, in that, by going from town to town, sleeping in the mosques and coming close to the people, he had won over the Moslems to Christ and baptized them in large numbers. The articles attracted attention, indeed made a sensa- tion. Various missionaries wrote, controverting his theory and insisting that the twelve disciples whom Christ sent forth were natives of the land, knew the language perfectly, and that the customs of Oriental hospitality were, as at the present day, af- fording a native shelter, food, and lodging without expense, but that there is no evidence that the apostles acted on this principle in journeys to Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. He also wrote to the Missionary Review that virtually nothing is being done for the Moslems of Syria. I wrote at the time to Rev. Henry Grattan Guinness that the whole system of missions in this empire is designed to reach eventually the Mohammedans whenever the door of religious liberty is opened, that accounts of converted Moslems cannot be published, and moreover that the Word of God, Christian books. Christian education, Christian example, and private conversation will effect vastly more than spasmodic efforts and hasty tours, especially when made by those comparatively ignorant of the language. The discussion waxed warm. But at length the bubble burst. Good men sent out from England travelled through Morocco, looking for Mr. Baldwin's converts in order to report the glo- rious news of converted Moslems to the Christian world. But alas, not one could be found. Mr. Baldwin had never learned the Arabic language so as to preach. He had done all through an interpreter, and that a gay deceiver, who induced Moslems to accept baptism by Mr. Baldwin, either as a joke or for a buck- sheesh, and thus the whole claim of the great success of a " Mat- thew 10 " policy vanished like the " baseless fabric of a vision." The revulsion of feeling in England and Scotland was painful, and the whole mission was reorganized by level-headed men who set about learning the language. Mr. Baldwin left Morocco, having abandoned his wife, and brought a number of his children to Beirut. Dr. Mackie asked him to preach, though with some 548 Three Years of Progress misgivings. His sermon was a painful exhibition of a mind par- tially disordered, full of dark, pessimistic forebodings. He de- clared that the dispensation of preaching the Gospel had come to an end ; that the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the earth ; that all things were going to the bad, and Christians now should give up all teaching and preaching and sit down and wait the appearing of the Lord. His Morocco fiasco was either the cause or the result of his dark inky despair. Only one step remained. In spite of the protests and entreaties of his children, he went to Jerusalem, joined the Spaffordite colony, and there he has re- mained "sitting" until this day, resisting the earnest request of his wife, his daughter, and son-in-law to " come out from among them." The lessons to be learned from this sad history are various. First, every missionary should master the language before attempting to preach, and avoid interpreters. Second, the Moslem citadel is not to be taken by theories but by faithful instruction, personal acquaintance, and persevering effort. Third, that missionaries should be sure of their facts before publishing them to the world. Just as the year was closing, we were refreshed by a visit from Rev. D. Stuart Dodge and his wonderful, dear mother, who at her advanced age was full of vigour and vivacity, abounding in good works, affable and courteous to all, and enduring " func- tions " and journeys with as little apparent fatigue as her active and energetic son Stuart. His presence has been always felt to be a benediction by all Christian workers in Syria, and the college owes more to him than his modesty will allow to be made public. At the same time arrived Dr. T. D. Tallmage, Mrs. Tallmage, and their daughter Mary. On Christmas day. Dr. Tallmage preached in the church a Christmas sermon to one of the greatest crowds ever assembled in Beirut, His text was, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men," and his fer- vent eloquence and evangelical spirit kept the audience spell- bound. It was a fitting close of the year 1889. Suppressing a Religious Paper 549 1890 — The year 1890 was marked by several notable events, the fiftieth year jubilee of Dr. Van Dyck, the conversion of that beautiful Moslem youth, Kamil, the suppression of our Neshrah journal, and the visit of Dr. Arthur Mitchell of the Board of For- eign Missions. For " ways that are dark," the officials of Beirut are " peculiar." They have laws enough, and good ones, the Islamic Sheria, a system well adapted to the Arabs in Mohammed's time, and the Code Napoleon, which covers modern law, civil and commercial. But the execution of the laws is done in a manner which the Orientals seem to understand, but which we Occidental strangers fail to comprehend. The press censor in Beirut, who was at that time the Maktoubji, or letter writer for the Waly, knew that all journals, newspapers, etc., must have an official irade or permit from Constantinople. Now, according to the strict letter, that law was enacted in 1869, but was not translated into Arabic for many years after, and then was so largely ignored that various high officials had never heard of it. The Amerian Mission weekly Neshrah had been published for twenty-five years, and copies sent every week to the censor for approval before printing, and two copies to the Ministry of Edu- cation in Constantinople. It antedated the press laws by four years and no objection had ever been made to it. In equity, the fact that the government at Constantinople had kept copies on file during all these years constituted a permit. But the Beirut censor, finding that we had no official irade for the paper, de- cided that we must have one. The Occidental way would have been to inform us that as the law required a permit, we must apply for one and ample time would be given us to secure one from Constantinople. But men do not always think alike. On January 4th, I was summoned to the seraia, and informed that the Neshrah was suppressed temporarily for printing in No. 46 an obnoxious telegram. I asked, " Which telegram ? " The of- ficer on duty did not know. Two days later came a letter from j-^o Three Years of Progress the Maktoubji ordering the stoppage of the paper on account of printing a telegram which alluded to the British ambassador at the Porte. On examination, I found that this telegram was copied from the Lisan, Arabic journal in Beirut, and three other papers had printed it without objection from the censor. When I had confronted the official with this fact and showed him the other journals, he said, " That makes no difference. You are suspended." I then went with Dr. Graham, who speaks Turkish, to call on the Waly Aziz Pasha. He was most courteous, and promised to telegraph in two days to Constantinople to have the order rescinded. We were then ordered to publish in the coming issue of our paper the government " Ikhtar," or order of sup- pression. After this, on January 25th, the Mudir el Maarif sent word that I must draw up a legal petition, to be approved by all the requisite^ bureaus at the seraia, asking permission to publish a journal, and that he would forward it to Constantinople. This official was most courteous, liberal minded, and obliging, and we deeply regretted his subsequent removal to another part of the empire. On the 29th, after various consultations and finally securing the legal form for such a petition, I signed it and had my sig- nature authenticated in the American consulate, and then took it to the mudir. He examined it, pronounced it correct, and then said, " Take it now to the prefect of poUce for his signature and seal." In my unsophisticated inexperience, I asked, " Why ? " He smiled and said, " It is the law that a journalji must give evidence that he is not a criminal, has not been arrested, and that his portrait is not in the rogues' gallery. Only the pohce can give this testimony." I went to the chief's office. He was out. I went again and again and finally found him. He looked surprised and I handed him the document. He very promptly called his clerk, who wrote in Turkish the usual form and then signed and sealed it and said to me, " It is all right. Now please take it to the Bash Katib, or chief clerk of the Mejlis el Idarat or Political Council." Perseverantia Omnia Vincit 551 I had with me our ever faithful and polite press secretary, Mr. A. KheiruUah. He knew that Bash Katib, but he was out. His office boy said to come at 2 p. m. We returned home and came at two. He was then at a meeting of the Mejlis with closed doors. " Come bokra " (to-morrow). We came the next day and sat an hour and finally secured him. He looked over the document, said it was all right, took a copy of it and its number, date, and signature, and then wrote his part of the complex commentary and affixed the seal of the great Mejlis. " That is all straight," said he. '* Now, please take it to Effendi, Mudir en Nefoos " (director of the Bureau of Vital Statistics). In this office are innumerable volumes of records containing the names of all Beirut subjects of the Porte and foreigners. The lists of the foreigners are supplied annually by the foreign consuls. The old effendi was a model of suavity, ordered coffee, and treated us as friends. After a thousand effusive salutations and compliments, he asked if he could serve us. We handed him the petition, which he looked at carefully. He then rang a bell and called for a " deftar," or record book, which his clerk found after turning over a big pile of similarly bound books in the corner. The effendi found the right page in his register of foreigners resident in Beirut, and then catechized me. " Your name? " " Henry H. Jessup." " Your age ? " " Fifty-eight." " Your father's name ? " " William." " Your wife's name ?" " Theodosia." " How many children have you ? " " Eight." " Their names ? " " Anna, William, Henry, Stuart, Mary, Amy, Ethel, and Frederick." " Right," said he. " You are the man. You are all right— 552 Three Years of Progress no arrears of taxes charged against you." He then read the petition, scanned the previous notes and seals, and then endorsed his own " no objection " on it and affixed his seal, and re- marked, " This must now go to the Bash Katib of the Court of First Instance." We could not imagine what that worthy had to do with it, but we had to go, found him at lunch, waited for him. He apolo- gized for detaining us, looked over the paper, declared it all right and regular, and affixed his views and his seal. I began to fear the paper would not hold many more certificates of approval, and also to feel that I was getting to be a well authenticated and recommended individual. He handed me the document, now spotted with seals, and politely remarked, pointing across the corridor, " This will now have to be submitted to the prosecuting attorney — such and such an effendi." " Certainly," we re- sponded, and away we went. What, now, would this functionary do ? We found him in his office, an educated gentleman. He saw at a glance the purport of the petition, ran his eye over the seals, and at once with his own *• no objection," sealed it and handed it back, saying that we had only one more stage in the matter. " Hand it to the Bash Katib of the Political Council. The council meets to-morrow, and after it is read and approved, the Waly will affix his seal and order it to be mailed to Constan- tinople." We did as we were bid. In the course of the fortnight it was mailed. We got the official number of the " Mazbata," or decision of the council, and sent it to our agent in Constantinople to follow it up. In eight months the irade came, authorizing us to print a literary, re- ligious, and scientific paper, but not to interfere with politics or religion. We had asked a permit for a general news paper. For some occult reason this was omitted in the permit, and we have apprehended, from that time to this, in trying to make up a re- ligious paper without interfering with religion, that we should be suppressed for sheer imbecility. The empire is now full of newspapers. Few of them make both ends meet. No public questions can be discussed and the Daniel Coit Oilman's Gift 553 public soon weary of endless accounts of the visits of European kings, and miscellanies from Tid Bits, The Mohammedan papers are allowed full swing in religious matters, but no Christian paper is suffered to reply. The govern- ment is constituted on a theocratic basis, and Islam being the religion of the state, including the public service, the army, and the navy, the Christian sects merely exist by sufferance. This confining of all official promotion to one sect makes the empire a mere sectarian machine, and any attempt to conform to modern civilization must fail, until this wretched, narrow bigotry is set aside, and the army and navy and civil offices thrown open to the worthy of all sects. The jubilee of Dr. Van Dyck which occurred April 2d has been fully described in the account of his life on a previous page. In April, 1890, my old Yale College friend, President Daniel C. Oilman of Johns Hopkins University, called to see us and the mission work. He was much interested in the press, the old historic cemetery, and the girls' school building. When we were looking at the upper room in which the Bible was translated into Arabic, he asked, " Why not have a memorial tablet in this room ? " I told him the only reason was the want of money to erect one. He immediately said, " Eli Smith was a Yale man, and I am a Yale man and so are you, and I will gladly pay the cost of such a tablet to be put up in Arabic and English." And it was set up. The brightest event in the year 1890, if not in my whole mis- sionary life, was the conversion to Christianity of a young Mo- hammedan effendi, Kamil el Aietany. He carne of his own accord on February loth, inquiring as to the nature of the Christian faith. He was a youth of twenty, with an unusually attractive face and a courteous, winning manner. He had met a Maronite priest and a Jesuit father but got no satisfaction from either of them, and came to Dr. Van Dyck who sent him to me. 554 Three Years of Progress His whole history, his profound spiritual experience, his delight in the Scriptures, his loyal and enthusiastic love for Jesus Christ as his Saviour, his zeal and fearlessness in preaching the Gospel, his blameless life and delight in prayer, his wise and winning way of dealing with both Mohammedans and Oriental Christians his filial devotion to his father and his remarkable correspond- ence with him, and his fidelity to Christ even to death, make his life one of profound interest, as showing what the grace of God can effect in the mind and character of a Mohammedan youth trained for seven years in a Mohammedan school. On April lo, 1904, Sir Wm. Muir wrote as follows : Dean Park House, Edinburgh. Dear Dr. Jessup : I have been for some time deeply engrossed in your "Life of Kami]," a book that should be known over all our possessions, especially those in Europe and the East. Would it not be well to have it reprinted and circulated again? /. e., the book itself without the ap- pendix. Please think how this can be done. I should be glad to do anything for the purpose. The wider it can be known the better. What do you say ? After the Bible, the life of this saved disciple is one of the best things we can circulate, especially among the Moslems. Will you think over this and let me know what is best to be done ? Ever yours truly, W. Muir. That new edition has not yet been printed, although the pub- lishers gave their cordial permission to Sir William to reprint if he desired. His death not long after interrupted the correspond- ence. As I have already published his life, there is no need of enter- ing into details with regard to his character and work. He studied in the boys' boarding-school of the Rev. O. J. Hardin in Suk el Gharb, where he met a young Bedawy Arab convert from the Aneyzy tribe, Jedaan, and in the summer of 1890, these two zealous young disciples spent two months of the vacation in the Kamil- — Apostle to the Moslems ^^^ Bedawin camps in the region of Hums and Hamath. Kamil said on his return that Jedaan had the advantage of him in knowing the pure Bedawi pronunciation and idioms, and Jedaan said at times he felt very timid lest the Arabs injure them for speaking of Christ, but that Kamil was bold as a lion. In the latter part of September they returned and gave a full account of their journey. They had been in every camp for miles east, west, north, and south of Hamath, and had read the Scriptures to hundreds of Arabs, sowing good seed that may yet spring up to the glory of God. Kamil brought as a present to my family a beautiful live bird, a rail, or blue heron, which he got in the Bookaa near Baalbec. He said he brought it as a thank-offering, because he had been permitted to accomplish his journey in safety. After completing their Bedawin labours they came into the city of Hums one Saturday to spend the Sabbath. Taking a room in a khan in the quarter of the Greek weavers, they called on the Protestant pastor. The news soon spread through the city that a young Beirut Mohammedan who had become a Christian was in the khan. Towards evening five young Syrian weavers of the Greek sect called upon them in the khan, curious to see a Moslem convert to Christianity. After the usual polite salutations they began to ply Kamil with questions as to his name, and whether it was actually true that he had become a Christian. He said, " Certainly." They asked, " How did it come about ? " " By reading God's Word and by prayer," he re- plied. " Are you a member of the Orthodox Apostolic'^Greek Church ? " they then asked. " I don't find the name of any such church in the Bible," said he. They then began with great zeal to try to convince him that he should be baptized by a Greek priest and should believe in prayers to the saints and to the Virgin, and in the doctrine of transubstantiation. Kamil took out his Arabic Testament and began to explain to them the doctrine of free salvation and of justification by faith, with the most tender earnestness. Then standing up he offered prayer for them all, and when he had finished, they were all in tears. ^^b Three Years of Progress They thanked him and went away, full of wonder that a Moslem convert should have to show them the way of salvation through Christ alone. The next morning they all went to the Protestant church and proposed to be enrolled as Protestants. News of this was carried to the Greek bishop, Athanasius Ahtullah. This bishop is one of the most enlightened of the Greek clergy in Syria. When a lad, he attended the Protestant common school in Suk, and he has opened large and well-conducted schools in Hums, with i,200 pupils ; and the Bible printed at the American Press is used as a text-book in them all. He sent and invited Kamil to visit him. On Kamil's arrival in the large reception room, the bishop sent out all the priests and servants and brought Kamil to the raised divan at the upper end of the room, and seating him at his right hand, saluted him most cordially. On learning his family name, the bishop said : " I know of your family and am glad you have become a Christian." Then he began to urge him to enter the Orthodox Greek Church, and used the usual arguments of the traditional Oriental Christians. Kamil asked, " What does Your Excellency believe about Christ? Is He a perfect and sufficient Saviour? " The bishop said, " Yes." " Do you believe, as St. Paul says, that, ' being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ '?" " Yes," replied the bishop. " Then," said Kamil, "we are brethren in belief; and what more do we want?" But the bishop urged him to accept trine immersion at the hands of a true priest of the Apostolic Orthodox Greek Church, and then he would be all right. Then Kamil, turning to the bishop, said, " Your Excellency, supposing that you and I were travelling west from Hums and came to the river Orontes ; and the river was deep, muddy, swift, and broad ; and there was neither bridge nor boat, and neither of us could swim. Then if I should say to you, ' Bishop, I beg you to take me across,' what would you say? You would say, ' Kamil, I cannot take myself across, and how can I take you ? ' And there we stood, helpless and despairing. But supposing that just then we should see a huge giant, a strong, tall man, coming towards us, God Has Called Me! 557 and he should take you by the arms and carry you across. Would I call out, ' Bishop, come and take me across ' ? No ; I would call to the strong man. Bishop, there is only one strong Man — the Lord Jesus Christ, Is not He enough ? " Turning to Kamil, the bishop asked, " My dear friend, how long have you been a Christian ? " '• Seven months," was the reply. " Seven months ! And you are teaching me who have been a Christian in name from infancy. Kamil, you are right. If you will stay here and teach Turkish in my school, I will pay you a higher salary than you can get in any school in Syria." " Your Ex- cellency," replied Kamil, " I thank you for your offer ; but I do not care for money or salary. God has called me to preach the Gospel to the Mohammedans, and I must complete my studies and be about my work." I shall never forget the truly eloquent and affecting manner in which he described this interview with the Bishop of Hums. It showed how completely he was imbued with the spirit of faith and Christian love, and how his exquisite courtesy and sweetness of disposition disarmed all opposition. Kamil and Jedaan re- turned to the Suk school and resumed their studies. Kamil's religious influence continued undiminished and he took part heartily in all religious meetings. Mr. Hardin states that it was refreshing to see how new and striking were his views and ap- plications of gospel truth. In October he wrote to me of his welfare and stated that the Greek priest in Suk had offered to teach him Greek in order to help him understand the New Testament, but his studies and his teaching left him no time for taking up Greek. Some of the monks of Deir Shir, a papal Greek monastery near Suk, made several attempts to persuade him to become a Romanist, but he finally told them they would better preach to the Moslems than attempt to pervert a Christian believer to Romish tradition and superstition. Early in January he wrote me again asking for certain books, and closed by saying, " We have been reading Acts 8 : 36-40, and I would ask, * Who shall forbid that I be baptized ? ' " 558 Three Years of Progress Up to this time he had been on probation, and it was thought better to give him time to take the step deliberately. But now there seemed no reason for further delay. He was rooted and grounded in the faith of Jesus Christ, and he was baptized January 15th, rejoicing thus to take his stand for Christ, his Saviour. Dr. Ellinwood, in his introduction to the " Life of Kamil," says, " The story of this young man ca,nnot fail to be regarded as a valu- able accession to the missionary literature of the day. First, it proves the utter falsity of the oracular assertion so often made by transient travellers, that no Moslem is ever converted to the Chris- tian faith. We have never known clearer evidence of the genuine- ness of the work of the Spirit of God in connection with his truth. The transformation in Paul's life was scarcely clearer or more impressive. " Second, an admirable example is afforded to missionaries in heathen and Moslem lands, and indeed to preachers and evangel- ists at home as well, of that alert and ever wise tact which finds * the line of least resistance ' to the heart of one's adversary. There are those who stoutly deny the necessity of learning any- thing whatever concerning the non-Christian religions, who deem it utter folly to study the Koran, even though one labours in Syria or Persia, and equally senseless to disturb the musty tomes of Buddhist or Hindu lore if one's field is India; all that is needed is the story of the Cross. This young Syrian did not thus believe. If he had been a student of the Koran before, there was tenfold necessity now, for it was upon the teachings of the Koran and the entire cult of Islam that he purposed to move with an untir- ing and fearless conquest. He would have to deal with men of intelligence and intellectual training, and if he would show the superiority of the Gospel of Christ, he must know how to make an intelligent comparison. If he would inculcate the supreme truth, he must generously recognize any particles of truth already possessed. Paul on Mars Hill before a heathen audience of Greeks, Paul before Agrippa, a ruler versed in the doctrines of the Jews, was not more wise and tactful than Kamil. " Third, if there were no other motive for studying this little KAMIL AIETANY Kamil's Martyrdom 559 sketch by Dr. Jessup, it is thrice valuable as a personal means of grace. Such a life of clear faith and of untiring devotion is tonic, and must be to every truly Christian heart. " Fourth, the life of Kamil affords another proof that the Gospel has a universal application to the hearts of men, that it is indeed the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation, • to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.' " In the fall of 1890, after his baptism, he joined Rev. Messrs. Cantine and Zwemer at Aden, Arabia, where he preached and sold Arabic Scriptures to the Arabs, then accompanied them December, 1 891, to EI Busrah at the head of the Persian Gulf in Turkish territory, where, after indefatigable labours in preaching and witnessing for Christ, he died suddenly in suspicious circum- stances, June 24, 1892, and the Turkish soldiers buried him so suddenly and so secretly that his grave could not be found, nor a post mortem examination be secured. * But it mattered not to him who buried him or where he was buried. He was safe beyond the reach of persecution and harm. I have rarely met a more pure and thoroughly sincere character. His life has proved that the purest and most unsullied flowers of grace in character may grow even in the atmosphere of unchris- tian social life. His intellectual difficulties about the Trinity vanished when he felt the need of a divine Saviour. He seemed taught by the Spirit of God from the first. Dr. Arthur Mitchell's Visit to Syria On the 24th of March, 1890, we were visited by one of the purest, noblest men of the modern church. Rev. Arthur Mitchell, secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. He came with his wife, a sister of Dr. Post of Beirut, after a round- the-world visit to the missions in Japan, China, Siam, and India. Having had a sunstroke in the Indian seas, he reached Cairo quite prostrated, and on reaching Beirut, Dr. Post insisted on his staying in bed and seeing no one. When restored, he took a three weeks' horseback journey, and then was able to meet the missionaries assembled in Beirut and to discuss important ques- 560 Three Years of Progress tions. His irenic disposition, keen insight into affairs, and per- suasive eloquence, succeeded in completely obliterating certain chronic misunderstandings between some of the foreign residents ; and in convincing the native church that it was their duty and privilege to call at once a native pastor, and in two months Rev. Yusef Bedr was unanimously called to the pastorate, and from that day to this the church has been served by native pastors. The visits of Secretaries Dr. Mitchell in 1890 and Dr. Brown in 1902 were a great blessing to the missionaries personally and to the work as a whole. Dr. Mitchell died in the summer of 1893, lamented by the Church at home and abroad. I had known him for fifty years, and none could know him without loving him. It was my privilege to stand in" his pulpit in Morristown, Chicago, and Cleveland. He was always a missionary in spirit. The monthly missionary meetings in his lecture-room, illustrated by beautiful maps drawn and coloured by his children, were the most attractive meetings of the month. I remember well the re- mark of Dr. EUinwood in 1878 when I was about setting out on my Western campaign to the churches and synods," You will find two Arthurs in the West, both of them in thorough sympathy with foreign missions, Arthur Mitchell of Chicago, and Arthur Pierson of Detroit," and so I found it. Arthur Mitchell died in the missionary harness and Arthur Pierson is still doing noble . service for world-wide missions. In July, 1890, I found in the Arabic journal Beirut the follow- ing account of a truly Oriental romance : About twenty-three years ago, a Jew named Oslan came from Bagdad to Damascus, leaving his wife and children in Bagdad. Soon after, his wife gave birth to a son and named him Ezekiel. The husband decided to remain in Damascus, and after five years sent for his wife to bring the children to him. So in due time she set out with the caravan of the Arab tribe of Akeil, taking the road through the Djoul wilderness. On their way they fell in with the tribe of Beni Sukhr, and encamped near them, pitching their tents for the night. A Desert Romance 561 About nightfall a terrific cyclone burst upon the camp. Tents were torn from their fastenings, shrubs and trees uprooted, the sand filled the air, and the wind scattered the baggage and be- longings of the travellers, and among the missing property was little Ezekiel, the son of Semha. She and the Arabs searched for three days and found no trace of him and then she resumed her journey to Damascus, sad and disconsolate, with the Akeil tribe who struck their tents and accompanied her. On reaching Damascus, she told her husband of the sad calamity which had befallen Ezekiel, and together they mourned him as dead. Now it happened that a few days after the sand-storm, a Bedawy woman named Hamdeh, of the tribe of Beni Sukhr, when walking outside the camp, heard a child's cry, and found little Ezekiel nearly buried in the sand. She took him home to the tent of her husband, the Emir Mohammed Kasim, cared for him, named him Nejeeb Paris, and brought him up as her son, know- ing nothing of his history or parentage. When Nejeeb reached the age of sixteen, a Mohammedan Hajjam (a cupper and cir- cumciser) visited the camp. The Bedawyoboys were assembled for circumcision and he was among them. When it came his turn, the Hajjam exclaimed, " He is already circumcised after the manner of the Jews." Hamdeh then remembered that at the time when Nejeeb was found, a caravan passed them in which were Jewish women and children. She then told her husband Moham- med and Nejeeb of this fact. The news flew throughout the tribe and the Bedawin began to laugh at him and call him Bedawy Jew and ridicule him. He bore their insults, however, with patience until he had reached the age of twenty-three. In May, 1890, he left the tribe of Beni Sukhr at Khaibar near El Medina in Arabia and came northward to Mezeirib, east of the Sea of Galilee, on a swift dromedary with a single companion, making the thirty-two days' journey in sixteen days. At Mezeirib he was not long in finding out the highway to Damascus, and he entered that city clad in his Bedawy attire, carrying his mizmar, shepherd's pipe, with which he had been 562 Three Years of Progress wont to awaken weird minor melodies in the Arabian desert. He went at once to the Jewish quarter and made himself known. The rabbi made a ceremonial examination and found that he was circumcised according to the Jewish rite. The Jewish community of Damascus was in great excitement, and diligent inquiry was made. At length a Jewess recalled that eighteen years before, Semha, the wife of Oslan, came with her children from Bagdad and lost a son in the camp of the Beni Sukhr, Then began a search for Oslan and his wife and they were traced to Beirut. Letters were then written to the chief hakkam or rabbi of Beirut, asking him, in case he found them, to obtain from them some sign by which they could identify the son and then send them on to Damascus. They went at once without delay to Damascus, and found their son a wild Bedawy, with all the characteristics of an Arab of the desert. The mother was then asked if she knew of any mark on his body by which she could identify Nejeeb Paris, the Arab, as her son Ezekiel. She said that when an infant she cauterized his right forearm, and that he was once burned on his left thigh. On examination, both of these marks were found to be exactly as she said. A " kaief " (physiognomist) was then summoned, who declared his features to resemble those of Semha, the mother, and his eyes to be like those of his father, Oslan. The youth was then delivered to his parents who embraced and kissed him, greeting him with warm welcome. Poor Ezekiel was stupefied with astonishment. He could not understand their expressions, nor could they understand his Bedawy dialect, but he was at length satisfied that he was their long-lost boy. After a stay of three days in Damascus, they brought him over to Beirut. His relatives and fellow Israelites received him with great joy and affection. His long Bedawy locks were cut off, his Arab Abaieh robe was removed, and new Israelitish garments were put on him. He looked at himself with amazement and walked about the house as one in a dream. When they called him by his name, " Hazkiyel " (Ezekiel), he would not answer, but Found After Many Years 563 replied, " What do you mean by' Hazkiyel ' ? I am Nejeeb Paris, the horseman of Abjar." On Monday evening, June 30th, a great feast was made by his parents. Men singers and women singers, with players on instruments, were hired, and guests were invited, both men and women, and there was eating and drinking, and making merry. And when the music began and the instruments sounded, Ezekiel's joy knew no bounds, and seizing his mizmar, he leaped into the middle of the room, dancing and shouting and playing his shepherd's pipe in Bedawy style. In a moment all the instru- ments were silent, the men and women singers paused, Ezekiel was left the only performer, and he shouted, " Rise up, brethren let us dance together." The above I have translated literally from the Arabic paper Beirut, of July 2d. July 7th — To-day Ezekiel called on me with his mother at the American Press. He repeated substantially the statements nar- rated above. He says that his Bedawy father, the Emir Moham- med, is at the head of the Beni Sukhr, who occupy the Arabian wilderness from Mecca and El Medina to the north and north- east, carrying their raids as far as the vicinity of Bagdad, and it was on one of these raids that they discovered him almost dead in the sand. " The Emir Mohammed," said Ezekiel, " has six sons, but none of them are noted for horsemanship and ' Feroosiyeh ' with the spear, but I have always been a faris, and had command of a hundred spearmen." He said that he had often been chal- lenged to the " jereed " contest by the best spearmen in Arabia (the jereed is a spear shaft with blunt ends used only for exercise and drill) and was never yet hit by the jereed. I asked him how he escaped. He said, " When the jereed strikes where I was thought to be, I am found under the horse's belly, riding at full speed." I asked his mother if he knew anything about religion and she said nothing. I then asked him where good men go when they die. " To Jenneh " (Paradise). " And where do the wickec^ 564 Three Years of Progress go ? " " To Jehennam " (Hell). " Do all the Bedawin Arabs believe this ? " " Yes." " Do they hve up to it ? " " Live up to it ? A man's life with them is of no more account than the life of a beast." " Do the Bedawin sheikhs and emirs pray ? " He re- plied by extending both hands towards me, palms down, and the fingers spreading apart and saying, *' Sir, are all my fingers of the same length ? " i. ^., are all men alike ? I then asked, " Do you know the Mohammedan prayers ? " " No, I have never learned them." " Have you ever met any Christians ? " " Yes, at Khaibar there are Christians and I taught a Christian named Habib for five months horsemanship and spear practice, and he taught me to pray, ' Abana illeze fis semawat ' " (Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, etc.), and Ezekiel repeated the whole prayer in Arabic with perfect correctness. I was astonished at hearing the Lord's prayer from this son of the desert, but remembered that there are scattered through that region small tribes of Oriental Christians of the Greek Church, who, with all their superstition and ignorance, know the funda- mental truths of the Christian faith. It is certainly to the credit of this man Habib, living away down at Khaibar, near the tomb of Mohammed, that he should teach the Lord's prayer to the son of the emir of the Beni Sukhr. I asked Ezekiel why he came thus secretly and alone. He said that after he learned that he was of Jewish birth he wondered whether his real parents and others of his kindred were living, and about the first of May, when in Khaibar, he decided to come on alone to Damascus, and, if he found no trace of any living relative, he would return to his tribe. So he hired a guide and they two set out on dromedaries and travelled the six hundred miles between Khaibar and Damascus in sixteen days, the ordinary time for caravans being thirty-two days. He said that had he known that his father and mother were living he would not have come empty handed as he did. His mother said she could not tell what her son would do, that it was hard for him to remain shut up in a house, and he wants to be out in the open air all the time. He knows no trade or Music in Syria 565 business such as is needed to earn his Hving and is perplexed by his new environment. I asked him if he would like to enter a school and learn to read and write. He seemed to like the sug- gestion and said he liked the Christians and would rather be a Christian than a Jew. When I told him of Jedaan, the Aneyzy Arab, in our school at Suk, he seemed much interested and it may be that he will consent to learn at least enough to enable him to read the Bible and write. I was struck with the differ- ence between him and his mother. She had the placid, round, open face so common among Syrian Jewesses, with large staring eyes. His brow was low, his eyes deeply sunken and small, but keen and penetrating as an eagle's. He seemed to be looking at something two miles off. His figure was lithe and thin, and he showed me the callous, almost bony, marks across the palm, thumb, and fingers of his right hand, from long rubbing of the spear shaft. Three days ago he was challenged by half a dozen horsemen of Beirut to a jereed race at the pines, and he says he left them far behind. This is a veritable romance of real life. If Ezekiel is not up- set by so much lionizing, he may yet follow Jedaan's footsteps and become an apostle to the desert tribes of the great wilder- ness of Arabia. We sent him to Mr. Hardin's school at Suk but he could not endure the confinement and went away, [In January, 1905, his father stated that he was settled and at work in one of the Jewish industrial colonies near Safed.] During this year I baptized two intelligent Moslems in Beirut, both of whom had to leave the country. I regret to say that one of them was afterwards tempted by high ofifice and large salary to deny his Lord and Master. He continues outwardly friendly, but must have some fierce struggles with an outraged conscience. Musical Talent Among the Syrians Asiatic music differs so essentially from the European that foreigners on hearing Syrian airs for the first time are impressed 566 Three Years of Progress and oppressed with the sad minor melancholy tone of the Arabic music. In Arab music the intervals between the full notes are thirds, so that C sharp and D flat are distinct sounds. Asiatics have no harmony. All their music is simply " one part " melody. Even in Europe, harmony as a science was not known in the early Christian centuries. The introduction of melodeons, pianos, harmoniums, and organs by Americans and Europeans in the last fifty years, and the regular instruction in harmony in the schools, have developed in the second generation of educated Syrians several very remarkable cases of musical genius of the European style. Two of our Protestant young men have distinguished them- selves even in the capitals of London and Paris. The first was a blind youth Ibrahim, who in Mr. Mott's bhnd school showed musical talent, playing several instruments and singing equally well bass, tenor, and soprano. In the summer of 1890, after preliminary correspondence with Dr. Campbell, principal of the Royal Normal Musical College for the blind in Upper Norwood, London, young Ibrahim set out for London. At Port Said, having been abandoned by his Syrian fellow travellers, he fell in with a godly English family en route for London, who took charge of him until he entered the college. There, by industry, fidelity, and faithful study, he rose high in his classes, received his diploma, and is now supporting himself comfortably by tuning pianos. The other youth, Wadia, is the son of parents both of them pupils and teachers, and both fond of sacred music. I have spoken of him elsewhere. These two young men, with native genius for music and brought up in godly families, show what may be anticipated when Christian education becomes general in the East. Not only in music, but also in painting, considerable genius has developed in the second generation of Protestant youth, some of whom have done excellent work in portrait painting, among them Mr. Selim Shibley Haddad of Cairo, Raieef Shidoody of Beirut, Khahl M. Saleeby of Beirut, and Manuel Sabunjy of Cairo. The Bakurah 567 Mr. Haddad painted the beautiful portrait of Miss Everett which was given to the Beirut Girls' School by the alumnae in Egypt. In September, 1890, I sent to Sir William Muir the manu- script of the " Bakurah," a book which has no superior as an exhibition of the Christian argument as addressed to Moslems. Sir William in his preface to the English abstract of the book published by the Religious Tract Society of London in 1893, says, " It is a work in many respects the most remarkable of its kind which has appeared in the present day. It may take the highest rank in apologetic literature, being beyond question one of the most powerful treatises on the claims of Christianity that has ever been addressed to the Mohammedan world." It is an historical romance located in Damascus, and is full of thrilling incidents and powerful reasoning. The book was published in Arabic first in Leipsic, the proofs being sent to Dr. Van Dyck for correction, and I also aiding in comparing it with the original manuscript. It was then sent to Egypt and placed on sale and some copies reached Syria. The edition being soon exhausted, it was reprinted by the missionaries in Egypt in a cheap form and it has been translated into Persian and into some of the languages of India. A young Moslem effendi recently informed me that he was led to accept Christ as his Saviour by reading a copy in the Azhar University mosque in Cairo. The author's name does not appear, but I am thankful to say that he is one of the most refined and scholarly Christian preachers in the East, is well versed in Mohammedan literature, and has large acquaintance with their learned men. His liter- ary taste and ability are only surpassed by the personal loveli- ness of a character, amiable, gentle, and fully consecrated to the service of Jesus Christ. Another book by the same author, " Minar ul Hoc," " The Beacon of Truth," has also been edited and printed in Arabic and English through the efficient aid of Sir William Muir of blessed memory. It is a somewhat striking coincidence that on the 13th of 568 Three Years of Progress February, 1865, a Damascus Mohammedan lay imprisoned in Beirut for becoming a Christian, and the very next day, February 14th, the author of the " Bakurah " took refuge in my house at midnight from the persecution of his near relatives, members of one of the Oriental churches. It was a dark stormy night and they turned him out into the storm to find shelter where he could. The facts concerning the persecution of the Moslem convert and the rumour that two more had been hung in the Great Mosque at Damascus for becoming Christians, coming to his knowledge just at this time when he was suffering the loss of all things for Christ's sake, made a deep impression on his mind. His deep religious experience, afterwards so beautifully de- veloped in his life and teaching, made it possible for him to write a book of spiritual power for the unspiritual Moslems. I am sure that no member of the Greek Orthodox Church or the Romish Church, believing in Mariolatry and ikon worship and priestly absolution could possibly write such a book as the ".Bakurah," which is Scriptural and evangelical from beginning to end. Sir William Muir speaks of this point very tersely and earnestly in his introduction to the English edition. I wrote to Sir William Muir, August 11, 1891 : " The Bishop Blyth crusade against the Church Missionary Society missionaries is indeed pitiable. Archdeacon Denison carries the matter to a logical conclusion. He only needs to in- sist that Bishop Blyth ask for rebaptism and reordination at the hands of the Greek patriarch and then his position will be con- sistent. " Your own remarks in the Record are most pertinent. Those who talk about the Greek clergy labouring for the salvation of the Moslems do not know what they are talking about. I doubt whether there are a dozen Greek priests in Syria and Palestine who can read correctly a chapter in the Koran, or carry on an argument with a Moslem sheikh. Or if they could they would flout at the idea of preaching to the vile Moslems. Or if they felt it a duty, they are so afraid of the Moslems that they William Jessup's Arrival in Syria 569 would not dare to speak to them of embracing Christianity. And if they did speak, the Moslems would reply by charging them with idolatry and creature worship." On November 29, 1890, our hearts were gladdened by the arrival of my eldest son, Rev, William Jessup, and his bride, as a reinforcement to the mission. He was the child of many prayers, and entered upon his work fully consecrated, not only by his parents, but by his own free surrender of all to Christ. Left motherless in infancy in 1864, he was brought up by lov- ing grandparents in Branchport, N. Y., and became strong and vigorous. In 1878 I was in America and sent for him to come to my mother's home in Montrose. I had last seen him a lad of six years, and when I went to the railroad station to meet him, I was thinking of the little child of ten years before. The train stopped. Only one passenger got out, a tall, broad-shouldered man with a satchel. I kept looking for my boy — but this man walked directly up to me with a smile and I saw that it was in- deed my boy, the face the same, but so much higher from the ground ! It was enough to bring both smiles and tears of joy. Then came the more intimate acquaintance, his meeting his brothers and sisters, the arrangements for Albany Academy with his brother Henry, their graduation at Princeton, and his course in the Princeton Theological Seminary and appointment to Syria. Eighteen years have passed. Four lovely olive plants are around his table, and he has plenty of sohd work in itinerating over a field ninety by forty miles, preaching and teaching the everlasting Gospel. It is a gratifying fact that not less than twenty-two of the children of American missionaries in Syria have entered on the missionary work. As the year drew near its close, cholera appeared in Hamath, Hums, and Aleppo and some 25,000 people died. Mr. Wakim Messuah, pastor in Hums, had provided himself with cholera medicines, and went fearlessly among the people day by day, so that during the prevalence of the pestilence not a Protestant died. 570 Three Years of Progress The experience in Hamath and some of the villages was the same, as the teachers were forewarned and so forearmed. But after the epidemic subsided and all apprehension had ceased, the wife and daughter of the Hums pastor were suddenly taken one night with a virulent form of the disease and both died ! In Tripoli, through the goodness of God and the wise precau- tion of Dr. Harris, the girls' boarding-school stood like an angel- guarded fortress in the midst of that pestilence-stricken city. All water was boiled, all food cooked, and no outsider allowed to come in and although people were dying all around and the death wails filled the air, not a person in that building had the cholera. The people asked, " Has God spread a tent over those Protes- tants ? " The Moslems naturally suffered most, as their fatalistic doc- trines lead them to neglect the simplest rules of sanitation and health. I This year was an important one in the Tripoli field. Talcott ( Hall, the chapel of the school and community, was begun, and I Tripoli Presbytery was organized in Amar, a region so wild when I I lived in Tripoli, that we could not visit it without armed horse- men to protect us. Then, as brother Samuel said about Safita, we dared not go there lest the people shoot us, but now we fear to go lest they ask us for a school, when we have neither the means nor the men to supply it. The fourth Moslem convert of this year appeared, entered on a course of study, and has become an eminently useful man. I We have just had a Moslem sheikh here from Egypt. He be- I came enlightened there and fled to Syria. Some of the active i brethren in a neighbouring city became interested in him and he ! came on to Beirut. He attended church regularly here for weeks and showed a good deal of religious interest and fervour. But at length the gangrene of Islam appeared, and he was found engaged in impure practices. He then told us that in Egypt his regular business for years was that of a marrier of divorced women. o5 -a H i-^ *-5 -a >S CO ^ 1;^ ^ Oi -tJ 1^ '^ A Relapse ^yi This is an approved business in orthodox Moslem circles. If a Moslem in anger divorces his wife twice, he cannot remarry her the third time until she has first been legally married for a day and a night to another man ! This accommodating sheikh would marry a divorced woman, take her as his wife for one night, and then divorce her, so that she could return to her husband. In this way he made his living ! No wonder he finds it as hard to be moral as the Corinthian converts did. Oh, the depths of cor- ruption in Islam ! Let us thank God for a pure and holy religion ! XXV Marking Time Overworked — The High Anglican Church hostility — An English Moslem — Religious cranks — The first railroad — Educational missions — The Armenian massacres. THE year 1891 was a strenuous one for me. For a large part of the time I was alone as I was in 1866- 1867. Dr. Samuel Jessup and Dr. Eddy were in America and Dr. Dennis was called home on account of his father's death. Dr. Van Dyck was in feeble health, and I had the management of the press with all its accounts, business correspondence, exam- ining of manuscripts, reading proofs, editing the Neshrah and the J/z^/Z^ci^:, helping the native pastor, taking my turn in preaching in the church and in the college, and giving regular instruction in the theological class, besides doing the custom-house business. In my diary I find that my average weekly letters in English and Arabic numbered from thirty to forty, some of them of considerable length. We had our usual struggle with the custom-house authorities, who freely granted immunities to all nationalities but the Amer- icans. Two more Mohammedan converts appeared, one of whom has persevered and become a faithful and exemplary man in his pro- fession. The other, from Samaria, stated that before he was born his mother had vowed that if she had a son she would have him baptized by a Greek priest and taught the Greek catechism and creed. He grew up and went to school. Not liking the picture worship and saint worship of the Greeks, he became a Protestant with his mother's consent. He remained some time with Mr, Hardin and then disappeared, presumably having gone with a company of emigrants to America. A cyclone of great violence swept over Lebanon in March. 572 High Church Hostility 573 The Damascus diligence with six mules, and carrying passengers, near the summit of Mount Lebanon beyond Sowfar, was hurled, mules and all, about 200 feet from the road and landed in a field below. The mules were killed, but the passengers and driver es- caped with slight bruises. A few days after I passed that point in the diligence going east and saw the dead mules lying in the field where they fell. A gaunt wolf stood by them devouring the flesh. A French engineer on the diligence sprang down, levelled his revolver, and fired. The wolf turned his head and kept on with his meal. He fired again and the wolf limped away. He fired a third shot and the wolf staggered somewhat and disappeared down the mountain slope. Some days after, on my return, I asked at Sowfar station whether anything had been heard of the wolf. " Yes," they said, " his dead body was found that day at the foot of the cliff." The struggle between High Church Anglicanism and the truly evangelical missionaries of the Church Missionary Society in Palestine came to a crisis, with the appointment of Bishop Blyth as Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. As all the missionaries in Pal- estine are decidedly Low Church, it was expected that on the oc- currence of a vacancy in the English Episcopate, the appointing power would send a man in sympathy with the missionary clergy. But what occurred was exactly the reverse. The Right Reverend G. F. Popham Blyth, D. D., was appointed. Before his day, Anglican bishops such as Gobat and Barclay, with deans, canons, archdeacons, and rectors had visited Beirut and officiated in our mission church at the English service and conducted the com- munion service which we all attended. But on the arrival of Bishop Blyth, up went the bars. At his first service in Beirut, we Americans, in our simplicity, Dr. Bliss, Dr. Dennis, Dr. Sam- uel Jessup and myself attended. We communed. The good bishop's holy soul must have writhed in agony at the thought of such uncircumcised Presbyterians taking the communion at his hands. But he atoned for it the next Sunday by setting up a barbed wire fence around the communion tablein language some- 574 Marking Time thing- like this : " Hereafter any one of this flock wishing to commune with Catholics, Greeks, or Presbyterians must first ob- tain permission from the bishop's chaplain in charge of this church. And any Catholic, Greek, or Presbyterian wishing to commune here must first obtain permission from the bishop's chaplain." That was a fence intended to be an offense, and the little exclusive fold has not been invaded since by Presbyterian, nor even by the Evangelical Church of England missionaries in this part of Syria. He tried the threat of excommunication against two eminent English missionary ladies and received a re- ply that if he persisted in his course they would complain of him to the Archbishop of Canterbury. I have said enough in a pre- vious chapter (on the Greek Church) with regard to the corrup- tion of the Oriental churches. My little booklet, " The Greek Church and Protestant Mis- sions," which was published by the Christian Literature Society in New York and reprinted in two editions in England, contains all I have to say further on this subject. It is a special delight of these high Anglicans to hobnob with the Greek monks, bishops, and priests and to do all in their power to antagonize the Syrian evangelical churches. Any attempt on the part of Maronites, Catholics, or Greeks to break away from the Mariolatry and picture worship of their old churches and from the grinding tyranny of their priests, as our fathers did in the time of the Reformation, will be frowned upon by the Angli- can clergy and every possible means be used to drive them back into spiritual bondage. In 1850, Archbishop Sumner, in an agreement with Baron Bunsen about the Jerusalem bishopric, said that when men in the Oriental churches become " emancipated from the fetters of a corrupt faith, we have no right to turn our backs upon the liber- ated captive and bid him return to his slavery or seek aid else- where." In 1907, the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem •* requested his Haifa Chaplain Archdeacon Dowling to write to the Greek patriarch of Jerusalem asking his approval of opening negotia- Anglicans and Greek Catholics 575 tions, saying, * The terms on which the Anglican Church can ne- gotiate with the Orthodox Greek Church are formal recognition between the two churches of the vaHdity of Holy Baptism and Holy Orders.' " The patriarch replied that the Eastern Church cannot accept the baptism or the orders of the Anglican Church, and only " the entire Eastern Orthodox Church and the entire Anglican Church" are competent to determine this question. One httle specimen of animated millinery tried to prohibit Rev. H. E. Fox of London from preaching in our church in Beirut. Finding that he was going to preach at 11 a. m., he withdrew an invitation to him to officiate in the Anglican even- ing service ! Mr. Fox wrote him a letter in reply which con- tained some fatherly counsel and severe rebuke to the little usurper which he will not soon forget. Mr. Fox sent me a copy of his letter which I have on file. The Church Missionary So- ciety, true to its evangelical principles, will not allow its churches and chapels on missionary ground to be consecrated by a bishop, and they freely invite missionaries of other churches to preach in them. I would recommend to the Anglican clergy who are so keen upon fraternizing with the higher clergy of the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, especially the " Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre," to read a book published by the Orthodox Russian bishop of Moscow about the year 1885 after spending a year in Jerusalem. He exposes the shocking immoralities of these clergy and says that no one can hear what he heard and know what he knows without blushing for the good name of Christianity. He enters into details with regard to the numerous progeny of these holy celibate monks, who are sent to Cyprus and trained in their turn to be monks. A prominent Greek gentleman in Beirut, connected with the Russian consulate-general, gave me a copy of the book. An English traveller who visited Beirut April 16, 1891, wrote out the following questions to Dr. Van Dyck, which I give in brief with the doctor's replies : " I. Can Bishop Blyth and the Church Missionary Society be reconciled ? Ans. No. 576 Marking Time " 2. Can the Anglican and Greek Churches be affiliated ? Ans. Yes, by all Englishmen being rebaptized and the clergy re- ordained, and receiving Holy Chrism with a mixture cooked over a fire made of rotten and filthy pictures of the saints which have been worn out by being kissed for years. " 3. Can the American missions and the British Syrian Schools evangelize Syria ? Ans. Yes, in time. " 4. Is a theological school, endowed in England and manned by natives, needed ? Ans. No, the East is pauperized enough now." While the American Mission was holding its semi-annual meet- ing in August in Suk el Gharb, news came of the death in the neighbouring village of Shemlan of Mrs. E. H. Watson, an Eng- lish missionary aged eighty-seven. She had laboured in Chris- tian education for more than thirty years. Before coming to Syria, she had taught school in Ireland, in Brooklyn, in Crete, in Valparaiso, in Athens, in Smyrna, and lastly in Beirut, Shemlan, Sidon, and Ain Zehalteh. For sixty-two years she was a teacher. In stature she was diminutive and her physique was that of a child, but her life was one of constant toil and self-sacrifice. She crossed seas and oceans at her own charges and here in Syria erected buildings, founded schools, and aided in Christian work with the greatest zeal and patience. She built and presented to our mission the house in Deir Mimas and the church in Shemlan. The Training-School for Girls in Shemlan was founded by her, and its edifice reared and deeded by her to a British Female Education Society and by that society finally given to the British Syrian Mission. In some other enterprises she suffered grievous disappointment, but this alone is her monument. The following week, Dr. and Mrs. Hoskins' infant son Horace E. Hoskins died in Suk. On August 31st, Syria suffered a great loss in the death of Mrs. Augusta Mentor Mott, long the directress of the British Syrian Schools and Bible Mission. These schools were founded by the late Mrs. J. Bowen Thomp- son, then conducted by her sisters, the late Mrs. Henry Smith Bereavements — Quilliam the English Moslem 577 and Mrs. Mott. They were a remarkable trio of sisters, and with the admirable corps of teachers associated with them, have done a work of the highest value in the education of the daughters of Syria. Thoroughly spiritual in their religious character, liberal and broad minded, using their fortunes and their sympathies in the work, they have left their mark on Syrian family life and done this people immortal service. Although belonging to the Church of England, they would have nothing to do with the ritualistic Romanizing party and cooperated with our own mission and the Irish Presbyterian Mission in Damascus, and their teach- ers and converted pupils were communicants in the American Mission churches. Before her death Mrs. Mott sent for me to come and pray with her, and stated that she wished the British Syrian Schools to be conducted in the future on the same basis as before and to con- tinue in cordial cooperation with the American Mission. In October and December, 1891, death again invaded the mis- sion circle. Little Geraldine Dale, daughter of the late Rev. Gerald F. Dale of Zahleh, died after a brief illness, a severe afflic- tion to her already afflicted and widowed mother. This beautiful child was laid beside her father and sister in the mission cemetery. Then followed in two months the sudden death of Mrs, Dr. Wm. Schauffler, after childbirth, and on the day before Christmas I f baptized little William Gray Schauffler over his mother's coffin. She was the daughter of my old Hebrew teacher in Union Semi- nary, Rev. Dr. Theron F. Hawkes, and the father was the grand- son of the distinguished Dr. Schauffler, one of the Bible transla- tors of Constantinople. On September 30th, Rev, Asaad Abdullah was ordained in Ain Zehalteh and has continued steadfast in the ministry and is now, after fifteen years, the useful pastor of the Beirut Evangel- ical Church. J About this time, one Quilliam, an Englishman in Liverpool, '^ embraced Islam. He was invited to Constantinople and honoured 578 Marking Time and received the name of Mohammed Quilliam. The Moslem papers of the East rejoiced with great joy that now Mohammed Webb, who had collapsed in New York, was to be succeeded by a genuine English convert. Quilliam received money in aid of his scheme to convert England from Turkey, Egypt, and India. In 1903, the Moslem sheikh, Abdul Kerim Effendi Marat, of Medina, the Holy City of Islam (where Mohammed was buried), having heard of the great English Moslem, visited England and became the guest of Quilliam of Liverpool. He was surprised, shocked, disgusted. He wrote long letters to the Moslem Arabic journal Thomrat, No. 1,058, of Beirut, in which he described his feelings, on being met at the station by a " dog-cart driven by a handsome young lady, daughter of Abdullah Quilliam, who wore a fancy hat, without a veil (God forbid !). She was one of the converts to Islam. The mosque was his house, the minaret, a balcony on the street. The prayer room was fitted with seats like a church and at the time of prayer, Quilliam went up to the balcony and, Istughfur Allah ! (God forgive !) repeated in Eng- lish a call to prayer. Then this unveiled girl sat down to a small organ and played the tunes, while the handful of men and boys sang out of books hymns such as the Christians use, with the name of Christ omitted ! I was amazed. Then Quilliam said a few words, and they prayed, not in the required kneelings and bowings, but in a free and easy way shocking to the true be- liever. I found that he knew no Arabic, that he read the Koran in English (!) and that the women go unveiled like Christian women. He knows nothing about the principles and practice of Islam, but whenever he hears of men converted in Africa or India, he announces it to his subscribers in India or Turkey as the result of the labours of his missionaries. When the Emir of Afghanistan visited England, he gave Quilliam twenty-five hun- dred pounds, and the Prince of Lagos, West Africa, gave him one thousand pounds, supposing that he is printing Moslem books and leading the English people into Islam. He asked me to preach and I did. I told the whole truth. I told him that if, after being in Protestant schools twenty years, he really wished Quilliam Exposed 579 to serve the cause of Islam, he would have studied the Koran and Islamic books by bringing a learned sheikh here to teach Arabic and the Koran, whereas now he asks them to enter a religion of which he knows nothing. " In leaving him, after thanking him for his hospitality, I said, ' I advise you at once to bring three learned Moslem sheikhs with the funds you receive from India and Turkey, and let them teach Arabic and the holy faith and publish a journal.' I also said, ' You must command your women and girls to veil their faces and never let any man but their fathers and husbands see them.' I reminded him that when six hundred negroes in Lagos with their emir had accepted Islam through agents we sent from the Hejaz in Arabia, he took my report of the same, and sent it to the Sheikh ul Islam in Constantinople claiming that these were converts of his agents whom he had sent to West Africa ! and I rebuked him for this barefaced lying in order to raise money. The fact is he knows nothing about Islam." This is a hteral translation of Sheikh Abdul Kerim's letter. During this year, two itinerant evangelists, whom we will call X and Z, came to Syria. They held Bible readings and preached in chapels in Beirut and vicinity. They agreed on one point, and that was their suspicion and jealousy of each other. X came to Dr. Mackie of the Anglo-American Church in Beirut and said, " I want to warn you against Z. He cannot be trusted. He will pry into the secrets of your families and then blaze them abroad in the pulpit. Look out for him." A (ew days later Z came to Dr. Mackie and said, " I hear you have asked X to preach in your pulpit — a great mistake, sir. He cannot be re- lied on. Those X's, even the bishop, are all a little ' off' ; beware of him." One of them afterwards asked permission to lecture on the Second Coming. It was known that he held radical arithmetical views on the subject. So a pledge was taken from him that he would not fix the day nor the year for the Second Coming of Christ. He solemnly promised that he would avoid that aspect of the subject. A learned elder of the Arabic 580 Marking Time Church acted as interpreter. After a time his arithmetic got the better of his conscience and he solemnly declared that " as sure as the Word of God is true, the times of the Gentiles will end in 1910, and Christ's reign on earth will begin. There will be no king, emperor, president, or sultan, and the Turkish Empire will come to an end ! " The interpreter was terrified. There might be present a Turkish policeman or spy, and the interpreter and all his brethren be arrested as enemies of the Sultan. So he adroitly generalized the language and perhaps saved us from having our Sunday-school closed by the police ! After the meeting I confronted the man with his violation of his solemn pledge, — he did not seem to regret what he had done, but met my protest with " a smile that was bland." It is often difficult to know what is duty when strangers come and ask permission to address the Sunday-school, the girls' boarding-school or the college. It is generally necessary, however, to warn the eager speaker to avoid absolutely all flattering remarks about the " beautiful bright eyes of the girls," and the " intelligent faces " or " high promise " of the boys. I have often been obliged, when trans- lating for a tourist speaker, to use my own discretion as to the amount of " soft soap " proper to be administered to the hearers. One speaker in the college told the students that if they ever came to America he would be glad to see them in his home in . Out came the note-books and within the next two years the quiet country study of this good man was invaded, to his dismay, by a number of eager youths, expecting that he would find them work in their adopted country. He had no means of furnishing them employment. They had taken him at his word. He had forgotten it, but they had not, and they were disappointed. In several instances professors, pastors, and teachers have given high recommendations to young men for the foreign mis- sionary work, and afterwards, when the men found they were out of place and had to give up the work, those who recom- Disturbing the Good-will of Ishmael 581 mended them admitted that they did it " with misgivings," as one seminary professor stated. The result was the expense of outfit, thousands of miles out and back, a disappointed labourer, a disappointed mission, and the loss of much money. I felt at the time that the man who had the " misgivings " should now try to make amends for his imprudence by liberal " givings " to make up the loss. In August a Boston man bearing a familiar name wrote to me asking information about the Arabic language, and added the extraordinary " hope that you will not in your missionary work be guilty of indiscretion in disturbing the good-will of Ishmael." I wrote him that I was unable to grasp his meaning. According to Genesis 16: 12, " Ishmael will be a wild man. His hand will be against every man and every man's hand will be against him." The Bedawin and the people of Arabia are the Ishmaelites of to-day. It is difficult to see how a foreigner can secure the " good-will " of such a body of robbers and murderers. They live by constant forays and cowardly midnight " ghazus " upon each others' camps. The famous Mohammed Smair, the Bedawy emir who visited Beirut, told me that a Christian teacher or khotib might live among his tribe if he had a good horse and would migrate with the tribe in their nomadic Hfe and live as they live, but he would have to help in the " ghazu " against other tribes. Our Boston friend might say that such a course would be justified if thereby we secure the " good-will " of the Arabs. The true way to secure the permanent good-will of these poor Ishmaelites would be to compel them to abandon their nomad life and internecine wars, settle down, and cultivate the soil and live in peace. This will come when there is a strong and honest government in Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. If the Boston scholar meant that the Gospel is not to be preached to the Arabs because they are Moslems, lest their *' good-will " be disturbed, I will suggest that he read Matthew 10: 34, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I 582 Marking Time came not to send peace but a sword." This is the teaching of the " Prince of Peace." Light dissipates darkness. Truth antagonizes error. Ahab charged Elijah with " troubhng Israel." EHjah repHed that the trouble came from Ahab and his idolatrous abandonment of God. In every mission field the " Gospel of Peace " stirs up strife and hostility. " Bonds and imprisonment " awaited Paul in every city. In our day in every heathen and Mohammedan land, sons are persecuted by fathers and fathers by sons. I have known an ignorant Maronite mother to poison her own son, a worthy and lovable man. Mos- lems hang or shoot or poison apostates and glory in their shame. Christ has bidden us to go and preach the Gospel. He says " be wise as serpents and harmless as doves," but He also says, " go and teach all nations " that is " evangelize them, give them the pure Gospel," because they are sinners and need it, and without Christ they are lost. In a land like this, every year yields its crop of cranks. Sometimes singly and sometimes in organized companies. The careful chronicle of all the religious, political, and ethical cranks who have ravaged the Holy Land during the past fifty years would furnish a fruitful theme for psychological research. Here is one of them. In July, 1891, an archaeological friend wrote from Jerusalem that he had been playing " Halma " at the house of the British consul with the " Forerunner." Some time after, this " forerunner " appeared at Hasbeiya under Mount Hermon and put up at the school of an English lady. He was in sorry plight, his clothes ragged and dirty and no change of raiment ; a package of dried plants about all he possessed. He was obliged to go to bed to have his garments washed and the good hostess was horrified to find that the guest-room had be- come infested with vermin of the third plague of Egypt. He stated solemnly that he was the " Forerunner" and that he was going to the summit of Hermon to meet the Lord and that then they were going to London to resurrect Dean Stanley ! He next appeared at the beautiful cottage home of Mr. and Tramps 583 Mrs. Bird, in Abeih, Mount Lebanon, and asked for a lodging. Mrs. Bird, who is a model of the New England housewife, was no less horrified than was the Hasbeiya lady to see this unkempt, ragged, and unsavoury tramp entering her neat and spotless house. Here also he left vestiges. The family were amazed at his refined language and his knowledge of botanical science, yet none the less relieved when he took his departure. Soon after, Dr. George E. Post, of the college in Beirut, found a tramp asleep on the porch of his house, and ordered him to decamp. He begged for food, and promised to work, if the doc- tor would give him passage money to Alexandria. Dr. Post, who is a distinguished botanist, soon found out that the " pack " of this straggler contained dried plants and flowers. One thing led to another. The man said his name was S , from Bos- ton, He had tramped on foot from the Suez Canal to Gaza and Jerusalem and thence through the land to Beirut, hving on the people. The doctor agreed to pay his fare if he would write out a journal of his trip from Egypt to Beirut. He did so. It was written in elegant phrase, a model of Addisonian diction, humor- ous, keen in observation, and with a decided scientific turn. It was impossible to say whether the man was a scholar with a crazy streak of mental hallucination, or whether the " Fore- runner " was assumed as a disguise to account for his unwashed person and filthy rags, and to enable him to beg his way through the tramp-trodden Holy Land. This summer I had a visit from a tramp of quite another stamp. When at my desk in the press. Sheikh Mohammed Hassan, one of the keepers of the Sacred Haram of Mecca, was announced. He was not of the unwashed. He had gone through all the ab- lutions of the orthodox Sunni Moslems from his youth up. His flowing robe and immaculate white turban, with his mellifluous Arabic, excited my admiration as it had done at about this time of the year for several years. He was on his annual round to gather in the spare copper and silver of the faithful. On his first visit he received a finely-bound Bible for the sherif of Mecca, which he afterwards reported as having been received 584 Marking Time with thanks. This time he descanted volubly on the noble generosity of the Americans and how they love all men and help all laudable enterprises. He then produced from under the folds of his robe a box of Mecca dates and a bottle of water from the Bir Zem Zem in Mecca. I accepted the dates with profuse thanks, but took pains to see that the Zem Zem bottle was well sealed, as the water is reputed to have more microbes to the ounce than any water on earth. It would have been preposter- ous to give a small present to such a distinguished and learned mendicant. I got off with two dollars and an Arabic book. Several other " forerunners " have appeared in Palestine in latter years, leading all decent and sane people to wish that the wardens of insane hospitals in Europe and America would keep their lunatics at home. The American diplomatic representatives at this time were Hon. S. Hirsch, United States Minister at the Porte and Mr. Erhard Bissinger, consul in Beirut, both of whom were efficient and conscientious men and an honour to their country. The American Mission in Syria sent to each of them letters of thanks and high appreciation of their efforts to promote Ameri- can educational and benevolent interests in Turkey, as well as in the interests of our commerce. As a rule, our representatives have been able men and efficient. In these fifty-one years I have known ten consuls in Beirut, and not more than three of them left Syria unregretted. Six were total abstinence men. Over a few I would draw the veil. Up to the year 1906 their salaries were quite inadequate, and they were not able without great self-denial to maintain adequately the dignity of their country. The new consular regulations will insure the appointment of efficient men with sufficient support to make it worth the while of first-class men to enter the foreign consular service. 1892 — The year 1892 was marked by the death of Kamil in Bussorah, of Mr. R, Konawaty, an aged disciple of eighty in 6- '- j' -,: » GORGE OF NAHR BARADA (THE ABANA) And the Damascus Railway. The New Railway 585 Beirut, and of Wassa Pasha, Governor of Mount Lebanon, June 29th, and the arrival of his successor, Naoom Pasha, Septem- ber 4th. Dr. and Mrs. S. Jessup, Rev. and Mrs. W. K. Eddy, and Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Bliss arrived from furloughs. In April Dr. Van Dyck received the honorary degree of L. H. D. from the University of Edinburgh and on December 23d, his friends, native and foreign, congratulated him and Mrs. Van Dyck on their golden wedding and presented him with a beautiful English cathedral clock. On March loth another Moslem convert, Mustafa from Damas- cus, passed through Beirut en route for the land of liberty. A young Moslem woman educated in a Christian school was sum- moned before the Maktubji, with her parents, and charged with being a Christian. She said, " Yes, I am a Christian : I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour and I am not afraid to con- fess Him before men. Do with me what you please. I belong to Jesus Christ and do not fear." The man threatened her but she was so calm and firm that he decided to let her alone. And she is as firm to-day (1909) as then. On August 28th the first locomotive reached Jerusalem, and December 8th ground was broken in Beirut for the Beirut- Damascus Railway. A great company of invited guests assem- bled on the spot, and while the Nakib el Ashraf Abdurahman Effendi Nahass offered an eloquent prayer, twelve sheep were sacrificed in front of him and the meat given to the poor. The sacrifice of sheep is a constant custom in Turkey on laying the corner-stone of any new building, or opening any new enterprise. A division occurred in Beirut church and the seceding por- tion called a pastor of their own. It was a sad experience to all concerned, but the new native churches have to learn by experi- ence, and the trials through which they pass may yet prove to be the means of greater ultimate success and progress. The only practical gain was the fact that the new church thus formed paid its own way without expense to the mission. Time is a great healer and the good men who have been temporarily sepa- 586 Marking Time rated will no doubt eventually come together again. I shall give no details of this church dissension, as it is clear that all parties would prefer that it be forgotten. I In January the zealous censor of the press expunged from lour weekly NeshraJi an account of the oppression of the Israel- lites by Pharaoh. He said that Egypt is under the Sultan and ,'!oppression of the Jews could not occur in Egypt. We were so stupefied by this display of learning and loyalty that we tamely submitted. The rebellion of Absalom was also forbidden to be mentioned, although taken verbatim from the Scriptures. In most cases we might appeal to the Waly, and the Walys are generally men of sense and experience and would overrule the decision of a petty press censor, but when your type is on the press and your hour of publication is at hand you have no time to draw up a formal protest on stamped paper stating your grievances. In the fall of that same year we printed a collection of eulogiums of the Bible by eminent men. These were all stricken out as implying that the Koran was not the only divine Book in the world, and our paper threatened with suppression if we repeated such language ! Swarms of locusts again appeared in Syria. In Aleppo the Waly ordered every man in the district to bring one oke (three pounds) to the government inspectors, to be destroyed. Four ! million okes were brought according to the official journal, or about 5,500 tons. These flights of locusts are terrific. They darken the sky and lighting down, destroy every green thing. I have seen them three or four inches deep on the ground. A ! tailor in Beirut when ordered out with the rest of the crowd to I gather a sack full of locusts, brought back his sack after sunset f and locked it up in his shop. Each locust's body contains about ninety eggs like the spawn of a fish. The tailor was taken down with a fever that night and did not return for a month. On his return, he opened the door and a swarm of young " gowgahs " came jumping out like gigantic fleas, black imps with heads like horses. The eggs had hatched out and for his two thousand Mohammedan Relics ^87 locusts he had 180,000, completely covering his shop and ruin- ing his stock of goods. An event of the year greatly regretted by the mission was the resignation of Dr. James S. Dennis. Owing to a quarrel in the Orthodox Greek Church in Damascus, three hundred Greeks declared themselves Protestants and at- tended the Protestant church. The missionaries welcomed them and gave them daily evangelical instruction, but felt assured from the outset that it was only the " morning cloud and early dew," and was only meant as a menace to the other party to yield and in a short time the whole three hundred who had marched up the hill marched down again and resumed their prayers to the holy pictures and the Virgin. A new mosque having been built in Tripoli, Syria, it was dedi- cated June 17th, by the arrival of three hairs from the beard of Mohammed, from Constantinople. Thousands of Moslems went down to the seaport to greet the casket, and half-naked men danced in the procession and cut themselves with knives amid the jubilation of the populace. In the addresses made on the occasion, according to the Moslem journals, there was no expla- nation as to what special virtue came from these relics. It has been supposed that the Moslems borrowed the custom from the Christian crusaders who carried off shiploads of relics from the Holy Land to Europe. The conduct of the ignorant populace can be explained, as it can in the Orthodox Greek orgies at the fraudulent Greek fire at Easter in Jerusalem, and the worshipping of bones and hairs and other relics of reputed saints in almost every papal church in Europe ; but the winking of Greek and Roman bishops and Moslem effendis and kadis at such puerile superstition, and giving them the sanction of their presence and cooperation cannot be too severely condemned. In April I wrote to Dr. Dennis in New York pleading by order of the mission for reinforcements. It was urged that " Dr. Van Dyck is seventy-two. Dr. Eddy 588 Marking Time sixty-four, H. H. Jessup sixty, S. Jessup fifty-nine, Dr. Daniel Bliss at the college sixty-nine, and Mr. Bird sixty-nine. You may get ' bottom ' out of such venerable steeds, but you cannot expect much ' speed.' I am feeling somewhat the burdens of this year, and the confusing secularities of running a printing- house, in addition to my preaching and teaching duties with my voluminous correspondence, sometimes make my head swim. I don't think I could carry this load another year. We must have one or two first-rate young men in training to take our places before we break down," I now add to the above, sixteen years later, that Dr, Van Dyck, Dr. Eddy, Mr. Bird and W, K. Eddy have gone to their reward. Dr. Dennis and Mr, Watson resigned, a loss of six men, and only five, Messrs, Doohttle, Erdman, S, D, Jessup, Nicol and Brown, have come in their place, so that the mission is numer- ically weaker in 1909 than in 1892, and I am seventy -six and a half, and my brother seventy-five and a half. Dr, R, Anderson, in giving his consent to the establishment of the Syrian Protestant College, expressed the fear that its teaching English would result in denationalizing the Syrians, making them restless, and unfitting them for the work of humble pastors and preachers in their own country. He instanced the results of English teaching in India as disastrous to the training of a native ministry. It is not easy now to say what would have been the effect of making English the language of instruction in the college, had all things remained as they were. But the discovery of America by certain Syrian merchants in 1876, and the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 put a new phase on the future of Syrian youth. The demand for English-speaking and English-trained doctors, lawyers, surveyors, and engineers, clerks and accountants in the Anglo-Egyptian military and civil service, tempted the best trained youth of Syria to go to Egypt. Then the opening El Dorado for Syrian dealers in Oriental wares and fabrics in North and South America, Mexico, and Australia sent, first, hundreds Value of Teaching in English 589 and then thousands of Syrians, men, women, and children, to seek their fortune beyond the seas. Many sent back thousands of dollars, and the rumour of their success spread over the land. Then steamer agents and emigrant agency runners visited the towns and villages and sounded the praises of America, Brazil and Argentine, etc., until every steamer to Naples and Marseilles went crowded with hopeful Syrians. Was the teaching in the college and boys' boarding-schools responsible for this phe- nomenal exodus ? The answer must be affirmative with regard to Egypt. The Egyptian and Sudanese governments want bright, intelligent young Syrians, well up in English, and with a sound moral training, and this class largely goes to Egypt. But the rank and file of the tens of thousands of emigrants know no language but Arabic and literally " go forth not knowing whither they are going." Not a few college men are in the United States, but I was surprised on examining the Syrian Protestant College catalogue for 1906 to find that only fifty-eight college graduates are now in the United States, and eighty-seven in Egypt, or a hundred and forty-five in all, out of one thousand three hundred and eighty-seven graduates in all departments. It is perhaps true that a knowledge of English has increased the number of emigrants, but their number is small as compared with the whole number of emigrants. Professor Lucius Miller of Princeton, who was for three years tutor in the Beirut College, spent a year in collecting statistics of the Syrian Colony in New York for the New York Federation of Churches, and he found the Protestant Syrians comprise fewer illiterate, and more educated men and women in proportion to their whole number than those of any other Syrian sect in New York. The figures are as follows : Adle to read arid write Arabic Protestant . . . 60.1% Maronite . . . 39.4% Greek .... 44. % Catholic . . . 33.7%) Able to read and write English Protestant . . . 60.1% Maronite . . . 19.1% Greek .... 25.8% Catholic . . . 13.1% 590 Marking Time This ratio would hold good with regard to the Protestant sect in the whole Turkish Empire as compared with other sects. It is the best educated of all the sects owing chiefly to the American schools. The priest-ridden district of Maronite Northern Leb- anon stands among the lowest. The Maronite higher clergy and the hordes of lazy worthless monks have gradually seized upon the best landed property and roll in wealth leaving the children and youth uneducated. Of late years a few, Hke the late Arch- bishop Dibbs of Beirut, have opened high schools, but the villages are left in ignorance. Emigration, however, is beginning to break up this monotone of ignorance and illiteracy. Many of the emi- grants have returned with liberal ideas and will not submit to priestly tyranny and are demanding schools under American and English auspices. The next twenty- five years will see a great change in the power and influence of this proud and tyrannical hierarchy. During this year, the Protestant missionaries in Constantinople drew up, signed, and forwarded to all the Protestant ambassadors an appeal protesting against the attempted suppression of Bible sale and colportage in the empire. The result was, after long delay, a new order forbidding interference with Bible work. In the Haiti Humayoiui of February, 1856, it is said that " each community inhabiting a distinct quarter shall have equal power to repair and improve its churches, hospitals, schools, and cemeteries. The Sublime Porte will . . . insure to each sect, whatever be the number of its adherents, entire freedom in the exercise of its religion." Yet there is constant obstruction of every effort to build churches or open schools. The Presbyterian church in Plainfield (New Jersey), Dr. W. R. Richards, pastor, sent out this year as a gift to the mission a new " Walter Scott " printing machine, made in Plainfield, and it arrived in May. On reaching the custom-house, the appraisers valued it at about double its real worth and I insisted that if they held their ground, they must " take their pay in kind." They AMERICAN PRESS Bindery. Machine Room. Educational Mission Work 591 then summoned several proprietors of presses in the city to aid in the appraisal and it was fixed at ;$8oo, on which we paid eight per cent, duty, or $64. We had also to pay moderate bucksheesh to boatmen, porters, inspectors, appraisers, clerks, scribes, copy- ists, overseers, doorkeepers, and watchmen for facilitating the egress of the machine. It was set up by means of a winch and tackle blocks by Mr. R. Somerville. This machine added greatly to the efficiency of our press, and is a memorial of the liberahty of the Crescent Avenue Church. We were at that time shipping books by mule and donkey to the Lebanon villages and the cities of Syria and Palestine ; by post to Hamadan, Ispahan and Tabriz in Persia ; by sea, to Con- stantinople, Mogador, Tangier, Algiers, Tunis, Egypt and Zanzi- bar. Egypt was and is still our best customer. We send also to Aden in Arabia, to Bombay and other parts of India, and to Bussorah and Bushire on the Persian Gulf, and also to Rio Janeiro, San Paolo (Brazil), and to New York, Chicago, Toledo, Philadelphia, Lawrence, Mass., and other Syrian colonies in America. In concluding my letter of acknowledgment to the Plainfield friends, I said, " The labour is ours, the results are God's. It is a privilege to preach the Gospel and to print and scatter God's Word throughout the world. May the Holy Spirit attend our teaching and preaching and our printing with His own mighty power from on high. The Lord raise up mission- aries from your church in Plainfield and send them forth to the whitening harvest field ! I can testify after thirty-six years of service in Syria that the missionary work is a blessed work indeed and can commend it to your young Christians as a happy and glorious work. It was instituted by the command and is crowned with the promised blessing of the Son of God." In September, at the request of Dr. Arthur Pierson of the Missionajy Review, I sent him an article on Educational Mis- sions, of which the following is the substance : We have given much of time and strength to mission schools but not to the detriment and neglect of other departments of the 592 Marking Time work. Schools have been looked upon as vital to missionary success, and yet only as a means to an end, not as the end itself. Schools were called " entering wedges " and such they really were, introducing the Gospel in many districts where otherwise, as far as could be seen, neither Bible nor missionary would have been allowed to enter. Education is only a means to an end in Christian missions, and that end is to lead men to Christ and teach them to become Christian peoples and nations. When it goes beyond this and claims to be in itself an end ; that mere intellectual and scientific eminence are objects worthy of the Christian missionary, that it is worth while for consecrated missionaries and missionary so- cieties to aim to have the best astronomers, geologists, botanists, surgeons, and physicians in the realm for the sake of the scien- tific prestige and the world-wide reputation ; then we do not hesitate to say that such a mission has stepped out of the Chris- tian and missionary sphere into one purely secular, scientific, and worldly. Such a work might be done by a Heidelberg or a Cambridge, a Harvard or a Sheffield, but not by a missionary society labouring for purely spiritual ends. The Syria Mission has had wide experience in the matter of education. The mis- sionaries have had a larger proportion of literary and educational work thrown upon them than is common in Asiatic and African missions. The Syrian people differ from the " Nature " tribes of Africa, and the settled communities of Central and Eastern Asia, in having been engaged for centuries in the conflict between the corrupt forms of Christianity, the religion of Islam, and the sects of semi-Paganism. There being no political parties in the empire, the inborn love of political dissent finds its vent in the religious sects. A man's religion is his politics, that is, his sect takes the place occupied in other countries by the political party. To separate any Syrian from his religious sect is to throw him out of his endeared political party with all its traditions and prejudices. A Christian missionary must steer clear of all these racial and Effect of Schools on Evangelization 593 sectarian political jealousies and try to teach loyalty to the " powers that be," the common brotherhood of man, and offer to all a common Saviour. The Holy Spirit is indeed omnipotent, and can make men of these hostile sects one in Christ " by the word of His power," just as He can place a Tammany ward politician side by side with a negro Republican at the Lord's table. But as human nature is, it generally requires early Christian training to break down these ancient sectarian antipathies. Men and women converted in adult years from various sects find it hard to forget their former differences and on slight occasions the old political lines define themselves with perilous vividness. It is different with youths of different sects when educated together, and the brightest examples of mutual love and confidence have been found among the young men and women trained for years together in Christian schools. The present educational work of the Syria Mission has been a gradual growth. The 119 common schools were as a rule located in places where previously there were no schools. In not a few cases high schools have been opened in the same towns by native sects, who, as experience shows, would close their schools at once were the evangelical schools withdrawn. The total of pupils in 1891 was 7,117. If we add to this at least an equal number in the schools of other Protestant missions in Syria and Palestine, we have a total of about 15,000 children under evangelical instruction in the land. This is a work of large extent and influence, and it is of the first importance to know whether these schools are helping in the work of evangelization. To aid in a correct estimate on this point, we should remember that : 1. The Bible is a text-book in all of them. These thousands of children are taught the Old and New Testaments, " Line upon Line," " Life of St. Paul," the catechisms, and the advanced pupils the " Bible Hand Book," Scripture history and geography. The Bible rests at the foundation of them all. 2. As far as possible, none but Christian teachers, communi- 594 Marking Time cants in the churches, are employed in these schools. The com- mon schools are thus Bible schools, and where the teachers are truly godly men, their prayers and example give a strong relig- ious influence to their teaching, and in the high schools daily religious instruction is given in the most thorough manner. 3. Sometimes a school has been maintained for years in a vil- lage without any apparent spiritual result, either among the chil- dren or their parents, and yet there are numerous instances in which the school has been the means of the establishment of a church and a decided religious reformation. 4. The mission schools in Turkey have had one important effect and that is that the Protestant community has for its size less illiteracy than any other community in the empire, more readers than any other, and is in consequence more intelligent. 5. In the towns and cities where the high schools are situate, the majority of the additions to the churches come from the chil- dren and the youth trained in the schools. 6. It is the unanimous testimony of intelligent natives of all sects that the intellectual awakening of modern Syria is due, in the first instance, to the schools of the American missions. They were the first and have continued for over sixty years, and the most of the institutions now in existence in Syria, native and for- eign, have grown out of them or have been directly occasioned by them. 7. If the question be raised, as to the comparative cost of educational and non-educational missions, it is doubtless true that the educational are the most costly. The Syrian Protestant College is an endowed institution sepa- rate from the Board of Missions, and its expensive edifices, which are an honour to American Christianity and an ornament to the city, were erected without cost to the Board of Missions. Since coming under the Presbyterian Board of Missions in 1870, the mission has introduced the English language in addi- tion to the Arabic into its boys' and girls' boarding-schools, and many of its day-schools. The English and Scotch schools all teach the English language. In this way many thousands of Phenomenal Emigration 595 Syrian youths have learned English, and the Romish and Greek schools are also teaching it in addition to French and Arabic. The question now arises, " Cui bono ? " Has twenty-five years' experience in teaching English justified the hopes and ex- pectations of the American missionaries? We reply that it has, and that beyond all question. The limited scope of Arabic literature, though greatly extended during the past thirty years by the Christian Press, makes it impossible for one to attain a thorough education without the use of a foreign language. One needs but to turn the pages of the catalogue of the Syrian Protestant College and of the Protestant girls' boarding-schools to see the names of men and women who are now the leaders in every good and elevating enterprise, authors, editors, physicians, preachers, teachers, and business men who owe their success and influence to their broad and thorough education. They are scat- tered throughout Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, and North and South America. The advocates of a purely vernacular system sometimes point to another side of the question which is plain to every candid observer, namely, that the English-speaking youth of both sexes are leaving the country and emigrating to Egypt and America. This is true and to such an extent as to be phenomenal. The Christian youth of Syria, Protestant and Catholic, Greek and Armenian, are emigrating by thousands. The promised land is not now east and west of the Jordan, but east and west of the Mississippi and the Rio de la Plata. And the same passion for emigration prevails in Asia Minor, Eastern Turkey, Mesopotamia. It is a striking if not a startling providential fact. The Christian element in Turkey is seeking a freer and fairer field for develop- ment. The ruling power is Moslem. Its motto has become " This is a Moslem land and Moslems must rule it." The Chicago Fair fanned the emigration fever to a flame. It has taken hold of all classes, and farmers, planters, mechanics, merchants, doctors, teachers, preachers, young men and women, boys and girls, even old men and women, are setting out in 596 Marking Time crowds for the El Dorado of the West. A company of plain peasants will pay high wages for an English-speaking boy or girl to go with them as interpreter. There is thus a premium on the English language. The English occupation of Egypt and Cyprus has acted in the same direction by opening new avenues of em- ployment. On the other hand ignorance of English does not deter the people from emigrating. It is a deep-seated popular impulse, wide-spread and irresistible, and it is equally strong in Eastern Turkey where httle has been done in teaching the English lan- guage. The land is too narrow for its people, at least under the present regime. The Moslems cannot getaway,and few have gone. It cannot be claimed that the teaching of English alone has produced this great movement, for the masses of emigrants do not know a word of English. The reason is a desire to better their condition, " to buy and sell and get gain," and in some cases, a longing to live under a Christian government. Whether the Syrians, like the Chinese, will return to their own land, is a problem as yet unsolved. The residence of Americans here for sixty years, the great numbers of American tourists who yearly pass through Syria and Palestine, the teaching of geography in the schools, the general spread of light, the news published in the Arabic journals, and the increase of population with no corresponding openings for earn- ing a living, these and many other causes have now culminated in this emigration movement which is sending a Semitic wave across seas and continents. Let us hope and pray that those who do at length return to the East will return better and broader and more useful men and women than if they had never left their na- tive land. It must be that there is a divine plan and meaning in it all, and that the result will be great moral gain to Western Asia in the future. The suspension of the mission schools in Syria would be a dis- aster. These thousands of children would be left untaught, or at least deprived of Bible instruction, A New Syria 597 We do not see cause for modifying our system of Christian education. Its great mission is yet to be performed. These schools in which the Bible is taught are doing a gradual, leaven- ing work among thousands who, thus far, do not accept the Word of God. There will yet be a new Phoenicia, a new Syria, better cultiva- ted, better governed, with a wider diffusion of Christian truth, a nobler sphere for women, happier homes for the people, and that contentment which grows out of faith in God and man. The schools will help on this consummation. The press will hasten it. The Christian pulpit will prepare the way for it. The churches and congregations now existmg and yet to be formed will lay the foundations for it, and the distribution of the Bible will confirm it and make it enduring. We believe in Christian mission schools. With all the drawbacks in expense and toil, and at times the semi-secularization of the missionary labourer, they are a blessing to any land. They let in the light. They teach the Bible to the children. They conciliate the parents, remove prejudice, root up old superstition, brighten and cheer the hearts of the little ones and the houses of their parents and lead many to a true knowledge of salvation through faith in Christ. They are a means to an end, and that end is the salvation of souls and the glory of God. 1893 — The chief events in the mission in 1893 were the reso- lution recommending the founding of an industrial orphanage in Sidon, the resignation of Miss Rebecca M. Brown from the Sidon Girls' Seminary, the baptism of another Mohammedan, Andraus, the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle for Sidon, the transfer of Mrs. Dale to Sidon for the year, and the arrival in Beirut of Dr. Mary Pierson Eddy from New York and Constantinople, having obtained, November 22, 1893, the first official permit granted to a woman to practice medicine in the Turkish Empire on the same | terms as have been previously granted to men only. The learned ; professors in the Imperial Medical College were for a long time incredulous as to the competency of a woman to master medical 598 Marking Time science, but when they finally consented to give her a medical examination and she passed triumphantly, they were warm in their congratulations and gave her not only the legal diploma, but also letters of introduction to the different Turkish authorities in Syria. She has attained a wide reputation and her hospital clinics at Maamiltein and her itinerant camps are crowded with patients. Among the prominent visitors to Syria this year were ex- Secretary of State John W. Foster and wife, and Dr. F. E. Clark, founder of the Christian Endeavour Society. Both of these eminent men made addresses in Beirut full of Christian wisdom and earnestness. In May I prepared two papers for the World's Congress of Re- ligions and Missions in Chicago, one on " The Rehgious Mission of the English-speaking Nations," and the other on " Triumphs of the Gospel in the Ottoman Empire." As both of these papers were published in the volume of Reports, I need not allude to them in detail. I had no fear of ill effects from that congress. Two tragic events occurred during the year. The first was the sinking of the splendid British battle-ship Victoria off Tripoli har- bour, June 22d, by collision with the Camperdown, in which 375 officers and men lost their hves. The fleet had been five days off Beirut, and Admiral Sir George Tryon and his officers had been entertained in a garden party on the grounds of Colonel Trotter, H. B. M. consul-general. The admiral was most affable. He spoke to Dr. Bliss and myself of Mr. Andrew Carnegie's recent plea for an aUiance of the Anglo-Saxon nations. We re- marked to him that on the recent visit of the French fleet the ships went to Tripoli, and in the evening as a cloud hung over Tripoli, the gleam of the search-lights could be seen here in Beirut forty miles distant. He said, " On Friday evening you will see the search-lights of our fleet at Tripoli." Alas, on Fri- day evening the admiral and his good ship and 375 men were at the bottom of the sea ! The ships left Beirut Friday morning in two The " Camperdown "-" Victoria " Collision 599 parallel lines far apart. They kept far out beyond the Tripoli islands and were to make a great curve around to the north and then turn inward and backward and deploy on another parallel line inside the double line of sailing. As they turned, the vice- admiral signalled, inquiring if they were not too near to make that curve. The answer of the admiral was, " Go ahead ! " They went ahead and as they turned inward, the Camperdown struck the Victoria back of the starboard bow, crushing in the solid armour and letting in the sea in a mighty stream. Rapid signals were interchanged, and there was for a moment danger that the other huge floating castles would collide, but they were managed with marvellous skill. The boats were lowered and hastened to rescue their comrades who had flung themselves into the sea. Then as the Victoria sank bows foremost, the engines still mov- ing and the screw revolving in the air, there was a fearful explo- sion and hundreds of men were sucked down to the depths in eighty fathoms of water. Two hundred and sixty-three men were rescued and 375 were lost. Dr. Ira Harris, missionary in Tripoli, was on the shore and saw the Victoria disappear. Dr. M , a Syrian physician, a graduate of the Syrian Protestant College, saw the Victoria go down and remarked to Dr. Harris, " One of them has gone down — it is one of those submarines. Watch and we shall see it come up again." Soon after, the boats came ashore and officers tele- graphed to the consul-general in Beirut of the awful disaster. As they sat on the shore, they recited the full details of the dreadful event and Dr. Harris took notes. No officer was allowed to write or telegraph to the British public the details. When the cablegram reached England of the bare fact, " Victoria sunk," and thence to New York, the New York World, finding that Dr. Harris was their only subscriber in Syria, cabled him to telegraph them full details. With all the facts now in his possession he ob- tained the use of the telegraph office and sent off" a detailed ac- count of hundreds of words as he had heard it from the officers on the wharf. That telegram was printed in New York, repeated to London, and published by the New York World in London 6oo Marking Time before any reliable report had been given to the British public. The search for the bodies of the dead men was long and thorough, on the spot, and on the adjacent shores, but few were ever found. Six bodies were brought ashore and buried in a plot given by the Sultan, adjoining the American Mission cemetery. Frag- ments of furniture floated up on the coast of Akkar and were col- lected by the peasants. Owing to the great depth, no divers could be employed, and that colossal steel coffin lies on the bot- tom, never to be touched by man, safer than the famous porphyry sarcophagus of Ashmunazer, Phoenician King of Sidon, who in- scribed a curse upon any one who should disturb his tomb, and yet that tomb is now in the Louvre in Paris. The reason of Ad- miral Tryon's failing to heed the warning signal will never be known. It was understood that he said to the officer who stood by him on the bridge, when he saw that the ships were colliding, " I only am to blame," and he went downj holding to the raiUng of the bridge. A part of the fleet remained on the coast for some weeks. Ex-Admiral Sir George Wellesley, a nephew of the Duke of Wellington, was at this time visiting his daughter, Mrs. Colonel Trotter, and accepted the invitation of his old subaltern officer. Captain Benham of the Camperdow^i, to be his guest on this cruise along the Syrian coast. He was on the deck of the Canip- erdown when the collision occurred and saw the awful scene in all its heartrending details. He returned to Beirut on a despatch boat the next day, but was so heart-broken that he could not speak. After four days I called upon him with my brother Sam- uel, and it was most pathetic to witness his manly grief over the loss of his friend Sir George Tryon and so many brave men. Another event which deeply affected the Mohammedan popu- lace, and might have led to another massacre, was the burning of the famous Mosque of Amweh in Damascus, October 19th. A Jewish tinman had been soldering the leaden plates on the roof and left his hand furnace while he went to his noon meal. A high wind sprang up which fanned the fire to a flame, the lead The House of Rimmon 60 1 melted, the boards and timbers beneath took fire, and owing to the great height and the want of fire engines, the whole roof was destroyed, as well as many treasures within the building. At first ill-disposed persons charged it on the Christians and a panic fell on the city. But the pasha published the facts and the ex- citement subsided. But the Arabic and Turkish journals were prohibited from alluding to it in any way, and months after, when subscriptions were made up by wealthy Moslems, the mosque was not mentioned, but the gifts were acknowledged '• for the sake of religious objects." This mosque was originally the " House of Rimmon," then the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist, then half of it was made into a mosque by Khalid, the " Sword of Mohammed " and finally the whole was seized by Welid, who himself destroyed the altar. When the Sultan decided to order it rebuilt, the Waly of Damascus telegraphed the Sultan that " the city of Damascus will alone rebuild it." This produced great indignation, as the Damascenes wished it rebuilt in magnificent style with the aid of the Sultan himself. In December, Mohammed Said Pasha, man- ager of the Hajj pilgrim caravan, subscribed one thousand Turk- ish pounds, Yusef Pasha three hundred and fifty, and Beit Odham seven hundred and fifty. Contributions of poplar and walnut timbers were made by the villagers and brought into the city with music and shouts of joy. Plans were decided on, and quarry- men, stone carvers, carpenters, decorators, and gilders employed, and the work of construction was carried on for thirteen years. Presents of costly and beautiful rugs of great size were sent from all parts of the empire and Egypt. To-day the work is about complete, and the tomb of John the Baptist in the midst is ele- gantly adorned. The pilgrimage to Mecca this year was unprecedently large owing to the " Wakfat," or standing on Mount Arafat, coming on Friday. This is regarded as a most auspicious concurrence, and the throng was immense. Unfortunately the cholera broke out among them and there were a thousand deaths a day. A 6o2 Marking Time Beirut sailor, Hassan, who was there, told me that as the proces- sion started from Mecca out to Jebel Arafat, the men kept drop- ping dead by the way and the bodies were left in the field, and on reaching the place of sacrifice, the great trenches, dug by the Turkish soldiers for burying the offal of the tens of thousands of slaughtered sheep, were filled with the bodies of dead pilgrims. Hassan said he felt no fear at the time but the sight was horrible. All good Moslems regard it as a special blessing to be able to die in the Holy City of Mecca or near it. Just at this time Mohammed Webb was parading his new- fledged Islamism in the Chicago World's Congress. He stated that " Woman under Islam is the mistress of the home." The Interior asked him, "Which one of her? As she is in the plural number, anywhere from two to twenty ? Will Mr. Webb tell us which one of the twenty is mistress ? " I sent to Sir William Muir a second Arabic manuscript by the author of the " Bakurat," called " Minar ul Hoc," which Dr. Van Dyck pronounced superior in argument even to the " Bakurat." Sir William was greatly impressed by it, and after numerous letters had been interchanged by us, he obtained its publication in Arabic and also a clear translation of it into English, to which he wrote a preface, in which he says, " I am unhesitatingly of opinion that, taken as a whole, no apology of the Christian faith, carrying similar weight and urgency, has ever been addressed to the Mohammedan world, and I look upon it as the duty of the Church, should this opinion be concurred in, to take measures for the translation of ♦ Minar ul Hoc ' into the vernacular of every land inhabited by those professing the Moslem faith, and to see that all missionaries in these lands have the means of becom- ing familiar with its contents." In November, 1893, Rev. J. Phillips of Damascus was return- ing from Ireland to Syria, and had in his baggage a number of maps. They were nearly all confiscated. A large valuable map Serious Losses by Death 603 of Europe happened to have on the east end a strip of Asia with the word " Armenia." For that ill-omened word the map was confiscated. A map of " Palestine under the kingdoms of Judah and Israel " was destroyed, as " the Sultan Abdul Hamid cannot acknowledge any kingdoms of Judah and Israel in his empire." Mr. Phillips remarked that this referred to a period many centu- ries before Christ. The triumphant reply was, " But this map was not made then. Judah and Israel did not know how to make maps." That is, all ancient maps showing the historic empire of the past are to be suppressed as dangerous to the in- tegrity of the Ottoman Empire. Really the Sultan ought to know what a set of ignorant blun- derers are appointed censors over the literature of his realm. There are intelligent, educated young men enough to fill honour- ably this office, but they are not generally worth enough to buy official position. The death of Rev. Dr. Arthur Mitchell, secretary of our Board of Missions, was to me a personal affliction. He was not only an accomplished scholar, of great literary ability and a powerful pen, but personally of winning and attractive sweetness of char- acter. He had strong faith and a tender, sympathetic nature. I shall never forget his address at a public meeting in Beirut, de- scribing his feelings as he sailed up the great rivers of China at night. The steamer passed city after city of 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, and so on, and he asked how many missionaries were here and there ? None, none, none, was the awful reply — no light here — all heathen darkness ! and he said that such a feeling of awe and horror and sorrow came over him in thinking of Christ's command and of His Church's neglect and the blackness of darkness resting like a pall on these millions, that he was quite overcome. The most notable events in the history of the Syria Mission in 1894 were the deaths of two octogenarian members of the mission, Rev. WilHam M. Thomson, D. D., aged eighty-nine, who 6o4 Marking Time died at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Walker, in Denver, Colo- rado, April 8th ; and Mr. George C. Hurter, for twenty years (from 1 84 1 to 1 861) printer for the American Mission Press, who died in Hyde Park, Mass., December 29th, aged eighty years. Of Dr. Thomson's hfe-work, full account has been given in a previous chapter. Mr. Hurter was born in Malta, May 10, 181 3, his father being Swiss and his mother a native of England. He worked first in Corfu on a Greek and Latin lexicon. Then he lived in Leghorn and Marseilles and went to the United States in 1838, where, in Xenia, Ohio, he printed a newspaper for two years. In 1839 he married Miss Elizabeth Grozier of Roxbury, and in 1841 was ap- pointed by the A. B. C. F. M. to the mission press in Syria. Returning to America in 1861 for family reasons, he laboured at his trade and did business with Beirut, being the first to intro- duce petroleum oil and lamps into Syria. He was a man of simple, childlike faith, a lover of prayer, and a student of God's Word. His pressmen in Beirut loved him. His hfe was pure and blameless. His pastor, Rev. Mr. Davis, of Hyde Park, said at his funeral, " He was for twenty years my parishioner, and I loved and admired him exceedingly. I think he came the near- est to being a perfect man of any that I have ever known." He celebrated his golden wedding in 1889 and survived his wife by one year. On being presented with an encyclopedia a year before his death, he was asked what part of it he would enjoy the most, and his characteristic reply was, " Finding the typographical mistakes." Would that all lay missionaries had his patience, gentleness, fidelity, perseverence, and brotherly kindness. His prayers were most touching and edifying. Men like Dr. EH Smith and Dr. Thomson, and some of us lesser lights as well, always en- joyed a prayer-meeting led by Mr. Hurter. This year the theological class was again opened in Mount Lebanon, this time at Suk el Gharb, May i6th, as a summer A Much Needed Furlough 605 school. The instructors were Dr. W. W. Eddy, Dr. Samuel Jessup, Mr. Hardin, and Mr. B. Barudi. This plan continued with intervals until 1905, when it was resumed in the newly purchased Misk house adjoining the church in Beirut, In February of this year, another professed convert from Islam to Christianity came to Beirut. His name is Ibrahim Effendi from Bagdad — a man about thirty-five years of age, of scholarly bearing, refined and courteous. He said he was the brother of the wife of Abbas Effendi, the new Babi religious head, who last year succeeded Beha Allah in Acre. Threatened three years ago in Bagdad because he would not become a Babi, he fled to Deir on the Euphrates and practiced pharmacy, and from there came to Beirut. He was looking for a place where he could work for Moslems without restriction from the govern- ment. I wrote to Mr. Zwemer at Bahrein about him, and on reaching Alexandria, April 28th, I found him there an attendant on the religious services of Rev. Dr. Ewing. I left Syria on furlough with Mrs. Jessup and my daughters, Anna and Amy, April 25th, for needed rest, or rather for a change of work in the intense life of America. We arrived in New York May 28th, and by December 31st I had delivered seventy-four addresses and sermons and had travelled many hun- dreds of miles, from Boston to St. Paul, Minn. As in previous visits to America, the most refreshing and com- forting feature of that year was revisiting my childhood's home, meeting brothers and sisters and their children, walking with brother William, the judge, over the old farm, seeing the stock, gathering blackberries and raspberries in the " clearings," fishing in the old trout brooks, and in Jones Lake, Heart Lake, and Silver Lake ; entering the old church and seeing the new gener- ation of rosy, bright children in the Sunday-school, meeting the elders and deacons, a very few of whom I knew way back in 1855 and of whom I had read in the village paper all these years ; attending the County Agricultural Fair, and addressing the farmers 6o6 Marking Time in the grove ; meeting on the street men and women whose faces and names had long been familiar ; and breathing the clear, fresh air of that beautiful village, my native place, Montrose, with its broad streets, shaded by maple trees and its village green and lawns, with its wide view over the forest clad hills of Susquehanna County ; the very thought of these, as I write among the oaks and olive trees and vine-clad terraces of Mount Lebanon, brings joy and comfort to my heart of hearts. During the latter months of 1894 and the early part of 1895, I found myself beset with letters, interviews, and questions, re- quests for lectures and addresses on the Armenian question, which at that time was exciting the whole civilized world. I found it necessary to be " wise as a serpent " that I might be " harmless as a dove." Having lived thirty-eight years (at that time) in the Turkish Empire, and expecting to return, it would not have been wise of me, as one of a body of some two hundred and fifty American missionaries, to tell all I knew or express all I felt with regard to those infamous massacres. I had no patience with Armenian revolutionists, who, at a safe distance, were stirring up their coreligionists in the interior of a Moslem Empire to revolt. It was on the face of it a hopeless and cruel policy. Were the Armenians all concentrated in one province, with one language and religion, they might reasonably have appealed to Europe to give them equal privileges with Bulgaria, under the suzerainty of the Sultan. But they are scattered over an immense territory, intermingled with an overwhelming majority of Moslems, so that a general uprising was only a signal for punishment by the gov- ernment. But on the other hand, nothing can justify any gov- ernment on earth in punishing a handful of revolutionists by a wholesale massacre of men, women, and children. No civilized government could do it, or would do it. The real rebels could have been arrested and punished with ease, without annihilating the whole population. I found it difficult therefore to speak on the subject and was careful to avoid the ubiquitous newspaper interviewers. Alas for The Armenian Massacres 607 the unwary, who fall into their snares, especially if the one vis- iting you be a cultivated lady. What can you do ? If you turn your back and refuse to speak, they will invent an interview and saddle upon you utterances which when in print make your hair stand on end. One interviewer made me say that there were three millions of Moslem converts to Christianity in Syria. Others have fathered upon me statements which must have led the public to regard me as recently escaped from a lunatic asylum. Much as we writhe under the inane censorship of the press in Syria, I felt when in America, on reading the curious and inexplicable blun- ders made in reports of my own language, that a moderate cen- sorship of the unbridled statements of the reporters would not be an unmixed evil. When in Chicago, October 22, 1894, Dr. Hillis kindly invited me to attend the ministers' meeting in Association Hall. They begged me to speak on the Armenian question. I consented on condition that no report of my remarks be published without being first submitted to me for correction. Mr. Ford, of the Chicago News, was the reporter, and agreed to write out the remarks verbatim and bring them to me. He met me at the " Big Four " railroad station the next morning as I was leaving with Mrs. Jessup for Indianapolis and handed me the report. It was admirably done, and after making a few corrections in proper names and figures, I returned it to him. Some of the Armenians in New York afterwards called on me and objected to my allu- sions to the " Revolutionary Committee " which was working from Russian soil to inflame the minds of the Armenian peas- antry in Turkey. I replied that the wisest thing the Armenians in America could do was to dissuade those misguided Armenians in Russia from occasioning disaster and ruin to the poor Ar- menians in Turkey. The working force in Syria was weakened this year by the departure of Miss M. C. Holmes, on account of the feeble health of her mother, and of Miss Mary T. M. Ford, another faithful 6o8 Marking Time labourer. Both of them are now (1909) on the field again though doing work independent of our mission — excellent work which needs no praise from me. Miss Holmes has a school in Jebail half-way between Beirut and Tripoli, a town never before occupied by a missionary, and Miss Ford is doing brave pioneer work among the neglected tribes of Upper Galilee and the Hauran. Among the returning missionaries after absence in America were Dr. George A. Ford and his mother. Miss E. Thomson and Prof. A. Day, Miss C. H. Brown and Mrs. Dr. George E. Post. In the fall, I stopped one day on I2th Street near Broadway, where men were blasting for a foundation and had thrown out beautiful glistening slabs of mica slate. Having made friends with a good-natured labourer, I made several trips to the mission house on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 12th Street, carrying fineTspecimens of this rock which I packed in a box and shipped to the museum of the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. My father used to say in my youthful days that I had the " stone fever." I have it still. September 19th I preached in Binghamton the ordination ser- mon of our nephew, Rev, Wm. J. Leverett, under appointment as missionary to Hainan, China. During the fall I was searching the country over to find a Christian layman to become secular agent for the Syria Mission. For years, since 1861, the management of the press, the financial, custom-house, post-office, and shipping business had been done by us ordained missionaries, and the mission decided that it was high time to call in some deacon to " serve tables " and let us devote ourselves to the " ministry of the Word." Before the end of the year, we had found Mr. E. G. Freyer, who had been for nine years in the United States Navy on the China station and now desired to enter upon Christian business work in some foreign mission. When in Washington, December 6th, I received from Lieutenant Ranney of the United States Navy a warm testimonial Resting by Rail 609 to the character and ability of Mr. Freyer, and he was appointed lay missionary, sailing in the winter for Beirut. 1895 — The six months of my stay in America from January to July were filled with intense activity. When not prostrated with grippe, I was travelling incessantly. I was authorized by the Board to raise ^8,000 for the Sidon Industrial School, and secured it all; lectured before the Quill Club in New York on the World's Peace ; before Union College ; at the Evangelical Alliance, New York ; at First Church, New York, for a collection for home missions ; prepared a memorial to President Cleveland asking that the Hon. Oscar Straus be sent as a special commissioner to Constantinople to negotiate a naturalization treaty ; before the alumni of Union Seminary at the St. Denis, on the crisis in Turkey ; and before the students and faculty of Union Seminary. In New York I re- ceived a call from Mr. Reugh, a zealous young student of Union Seminary who was impatient to go to East Africa as a pioneer missionary before completing his course. He knew nothing of the climate or the country, did not know to what port he should sail. He said he had no support but should go on faith. I warned him by the experience of several persons I had known and begged him if he should go, to go first to Cairo and study the Arabic language and take advice of Drs. Watson and Harvey as to his field. But he did not need nor heed advice. I told him of the seven young men and the seven young women who went as a " Band " to Japan without money or hardly a change of cloth- ing, and found themselves soon in a starving condition and had to be taken care of by the missionaries and residents. They had been misled by some ignorant enthusiast and came to grief. But Mr. Reugh would not be advised. He went to East Africa and died May 23, 1896. I also spoke at Elmira College ; several times at the Inter Seminary Missionary Alliance at Colgate University, New York, when we were literally snowed under and one delegation was snowbound in Delaware county and prevented from coming to the meeting ; at Pittsburg in the church of Dr. Holmes ; at 6io Marking Time Wooster University. At Lakewood I met the beloved Mrs. Dr. De Forest who had taught the first girls' boarding-school in Syria from 1843 to 1853. At Washington, by invitation of Mr. Everett Hayden, I lectured on the Turkish Empire before the American Geographical Society in Columbian University. I at- tended Lackawanna Presbytery ; then addressed a women's meet' ing in the Missionary House, Boston ; called on the beloved Dr. N. G. Clark, retired from active service by ill health ; visited the Arabic library of Harvard University with my friend and corre- spondent, Mr. John Orne; met on the train the venerable Dr. A. C. Thompson of Roxbury who was at our farewell meeting December 11, 1855, and found him to be en route to lecture on missions before the Hartford Theological Seminary ; then gave the annual address before the students and alumni of Auburn Theological Seminary, and renewed my acquaintance, alas, for the last time, with that gifted Christian scholar and gentleman, Dr. Henry M. Booth ; then to the church of Dr. Frank Hodge at Wilkesbarre ; to the General Assembly at Pittsburg with Mrs. Jessup and my brother William. We were the guests of one of the Lord's noblemen. Dr. Cyrus W. King of Allegheny. By in- vitation of Dr. Holland, we visited the university and met Mr. Bras- hear, the noted maker of astronomical instruments. He showed us in his workshop a row of glass lenses of all sizes from three inches in diameter to one foot, and told us that the molecular structure of the glass is so peculiar that sometimes a vibration in the air or in the building will cause a lens to explode and fly into a thou- sand fragments. He constructed the spectroscope and the visual and photographic object glasses attached to the twelve inch re- fracting telescope in the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. One day I went as a member of the delegation to salute the United Presbyterian Assembly in East Liberty. General Beaver ■ was chairman, and the committee were my classmate Wm. W. Cleveland, brother of President Cleveland, Dr. Howard Agnew Johnston, Judge Hibbard, and Mr. Landon. We were astonished at the splendour of that beautiful edifice, the gift of one of the Pittsburg magnates. Thinking of the past of the old Scotch The Clifton Springs Conference 6ll Covenanters, I told the audience that I almost anticipated finding them huddled in a cave through fear of persecution, but when I looked up at that marvellous roof, the superb organ, and the matchless hues of the stained glass windows, it seemed as if I had suddenly been ushered into heaven ! General Beaver asked the moderator about a dozen questions from the Shorter Catechism, answering them himself and saying after each one, " Mr. Moderator, do you believe that ? " He answered, " Yes." " And that ? and that ? — Why then we believe alike, we are one in faith, why not be one in fact ? " On Sunday I preached to the Syrians in the Italian quarter in Pittsburg. In June I attended the International Missionary Conference of Foreign Missionaries at Clifton, a meeting of spiritual uplifting and fraternal communion. Ever blessed be the memory of Dr. poster and his wife who founded this conference and whose free hospitality makes it possible from year to year. After hasty visits to the old Montrose home, to the hospitable home of the venerable Wm. A. Booth, and to the charming mansion of Mrs. Elbert B. Monroe at Tarrytown, we sailed, Mrs. Jessup, my daughters, Anna and Amy, my niece, Fanny M. Jessup, and I, once more for our Syrian home, on July 20th, reaching Beirut August 1 2th, twenty-three days from New York. In the opening of this year Dr. and Mrs. Harris and children returned from America to Syria. Mr. E. G. Freyer arrived February nth and soon took up the work of manager of the press and treasurer of the mission, and on December 3d was married in Cairo to Miss S. A. French, formerly a teacher for the Methodist Board in Japan. Miss Everett was obliged to resign from the work in Beirut Seminary and left for America June 25th. We arrived August 17th, and in four days I resumed instruc- tion in the theological seminary in Suk el Gharb, thus relieving my brother who had been teaching during my absence. In 6i2 Marking Time October his daughter Fanny went to Tripoli to assist Miss La Grange in the girls' seminary. On Saturday, October I2th, Mr. John R. Mott and Mrs. Mott with Mrs. Livingston Taylor reached Beirut. As the college term had just begun, Mr. Mott was asked to address the students, which he did morning and evening, speaking on " Bible study for personal growth." I took copious notes, then translated both addresses into Arabic, and published them in our weekly Neshrah journal. On Monday, October 14th, we rose early to take the seven o'clock train as they were going to Damascus and I to Aleih. It was a bright, clear morning. The whole eastern horizon over the range of Lebanon was cloudless in a glow with the rising sun. To the west and southwest the sea horizon was a clear-cut line of blue. But on the northwest was a mountainous pyramid of cumulous clouds, the blackness of darkness at the base, but on the top tinged with purple and gold. A deep calm rested on the sea. I called the attention of Dr. Bliss, at whose house I had been staying, to this extraordinary isolated cloud which loomed like an island of amethyst. At its base it grew blacker and blacker, and as we drove the mile to the railroad station, it seemed to be moving towards Beirut. As the train began the slow ascent over the cogged railway up the mountain, we could see the scouts of the moving column approaching Beirut, and farther up at Jumhur, we saw the lofty summit of Lebanon covered with scurrying masses of black cloud through which the lightning flashed, while deep thunders rolled through the moun- tain gorges and reverberated from the cliffs. We had hardly reached my door in Aleih when the cloud burst upon us. Lebanon was flooded, and the mountain torrents swollen. Five inches of rain fell in Beirut within two hours. There is no proper sewerage and the water rolled in rivers through the streets. The filth from cesspools which is usually cleared out in August and spread over the ground among the houses, polluting the air, was now washed into the streets and spread over the highways, when suddenly the cloud monster passed and disap- The Typhoid After the Cloudburst 613 peared, leaving the streets coated over with this fever-breeding slime. And to make the peril complete, from that time for two weeks the sky was as brass and the heat intense. All this filth was dried and pulverized, and driving hot north winds blew the fine dust in clouds into the houses, over the meat, vegetables, and bread in the markets and into the throats of the people. Within a month there were between seven hundred and a thou- sand cases of typhoid fever and it was estimated that at least three hundred of the children and youth of the city died. Some estimated it still higher. Various theories were put forth to ex- plain it. One was that the discharges from typhoid patients in a Lebanon village above the aqueduct had been washed down by the cloudburst and thus infected the city water, but in that case the whole city would have suffered, whereas, the most numerous and worst cases were along the line of the streets and highways which received the wash of the surface drainage. Others ascribed it to the fact that the vegetables raised in the truck gardens were washed by the gardeners in pools of foul water, and thus the lettuce, radishes, and cabbages carried the infection among the population. It was a grievous affliction and the city was in sorrow and distress. Early in November the blow began to fall on our mis- sion. Our Nestor, the veteran of fifty-five years, Dr. Cornelius V. A. Van Dyck, whose strength was already depleted by previous illness, was attacked by the dread typhoid, and on November 1 3th breathed his last. The whole city felt his death as a personal bereavement, and his funeral was attended by men of all sects and nationalities. By his special request, no address was made at his funeral. A simple service was conducted in Arabic and English. But under instructions from my missionary brethren, I delivered on Sun- day, the 17th, a memorial discourse in English and on Wednes- day, the 20th, the same discourse in Arabic, with the text, John 12 : 24, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." This sermon was afterwards by request repeated in Arabic in 6 14 Marking Time Tripoli, Sidon, Zahleh, Suk el Gharb and Abeih, and in all these places men of all sects, Oriental Christians, Moslems and Druses were among the hearers. Dr. Van Dyck was seventy-seven years of age. We have already sketched his life and work on a previous page. A gloom seemed settling over Beirut. Rumours of the Armenian massacres multiplied. On the 25th, letters from Constantinople told of 20,000 massacred in the region of Bitlis, Sivas, and Erzeroom, etc. A war broke out be- tween the Druses and Bedawin Arabs at Mejdel Shems and other towns south of Mount Hermon and the two Protestant churches of Mejdel Shems and Ain Kuryeh were plundered and destroyed. When in Tripoli, I met my old friend, Sheikh All Rashid, who expressed great sorrow at the death of Dr. Van Dyck. He said that he had recently preached in the Great Mosque on the text from the Fatiha, " Rabbi-ul-Ahlameen," " Lord of the Worlds " — in which he taught that Allah is not the God of the Moslem world only, but also of the Christian world, and that all men are brothers. I could well believe this, as his aged father, Sheikh Rashid, during the Crimean War in 1855, when the Moslem rabble were threatening to kill the Greek Christians of TripoU for sympathizing with Russia, went through the streets and quelled the mob, sending them to their homes. Then came news of cholera in Damascus, and, without previous notice, a cordon was put on against passengers by the railroad. Mrs. Dr. George E. Post and Dr. Mary P. Eddy who had taken the train from Aleih to Beirut found themselves at sunset ordered to the quarantine outside of Beirut, where they were told they must spend the night in an empty room whose floor was covered with filth, without a morsel of food. However, Dr. Post, hearing of the situation, sent down beds from the city and every- thing needed to make the place comfortable for the night. The dirt had to be shovelled out. And this was for first-class pas- sengers on the railroad. Fortunately the quarantine did not last more than twenty-four hours. On December 5th the United States ship, San Francisco, Death of Mrs. Samuel Jessup 615 Admiral Selfridge, reached Beirut. He had come out to look after American interests while the massacres were going on. The Moslem rabble in Mersina, Alexandretta, Latakia, Tripoli, and Beirut, and other seaports, hold such a ship in high respect, and such an admiral speaks plain English to Turkish officials and local sheikhs along the coast. But another blow was to fall, to fill up the measure of our grief. The theological class had closed in Lebanon and we had all moved down to Beirut, when, on December nth," Aunt Annie," my brother Samuel's wife, was stricken down with apoplexy. He lived in the lower story and I in the upper of the same house. Samuel returned from the press before sunset, and went to his study as usual. Soon after he looked for his wife and found her lying unconscious on the floor of her room. We were called, doctors were summoned, but all in vain. Consciousness never returned, and as Dr. William Van Dyck stood with us by the bedside, she passed away. The only son was in America and the only daughter, Fanny (now Mrs. Rev. James R. Swain), was forty miles away up the coast in Tripoli. The next morning through the aid of a beloved niece, then a visitor, and a namesake of " Aunt Annie," the little coasting steamer, Prince George, was chartered, and Dr. W. G. Schauffler and my daughter Mary vol- unteered to go and bring the absent one. Consul Gibson and Dr. Van Dyck went down to the wharf at 6 p. m. to meet them and the rest of the friends sat waiting. But we sat four long hours that dark night waiting in suspense, not knowing what might have befallen that frail, unsteady craft on the troubled sea, but at ten o'clock they all arrived in safety. The funeral the next day was largely attended by a loving and sympathetic community. The exercises were conducted by Drs. Bliss, Post, Ford, and Porter, and Messrs. March and Hardin. On the Sunday following, Dr. Post, who was the seminary classmate of my brother, his fellow chaplain in the army of the Potomac, 1861-1863, and his colleague in Tripoli for three years, delivered a most touching and beauti- ful discourse on her life and character. She was known by the whole Anglo-American community as " Aunt Annie." Full of 6i6 Marking Time hospitality, with a lovely face, cheerful and winning in her man- ner, her home attracted old and young. One week later, a little boy, Edgar Rosedale, the son of a transient resident physician, died after a remarkable religious experience. He was twelve years old, but during the last two days of his life, his language was thrilling. He said to me as I was about to offer prayer, '• I am going to meet Christ. When you pray tell Jesus I am coming, so He can tell the angels and they can recognize me. I will give your love to all your friends when I get there. I see Jesus." He bade good-bye to all his friends. A notorious scoffer being near came in and would not leave his bedside, saying, " Now I know that Christ is a real Saviour." A young student of the college was ill with typhoid fever. His professors urged the family who lived in a crowded tenement house to remove him to the hospital. They declined- I went often to see him. He lay on a pallet in the middle of the floor and the room was crowded with a noisy company of men, women, and children, talking and walking about, while the poor lad tossed in a delirium. The people made their remarks about the patient, and literally gave him no rest. I expostulated with the mother and tried to drive out the crowd, telling them that they would kill the young man, but to no avail, and in a few hours he died. The people have an unaccountable dread of a hospital, although the service of the trained German deaconesses, who are nurses in the German hospital in Beirut, is better than any possible service in a Syrian house. Several members of our family have been nursed through typhoid in that beautiful hos- pital, and we lose no opportunity to commend it to the people. On the 26th of December I baptized a young Mohammedan convert from near Acre. He gave good evidence of being an in- telligent and sincere Christian. His Christian name was Naanet- Ullah Abdul Messiah. The statement so often made that there are no converts from Islam is easily refuted. The facts cannot be published at the l8g6 a Year of Gloom 617 time, lest the ignorant and fanatical populace, incited by their sheikhs, take the lives of the converts. I have baptized no less than thirty males and females. Some are unmolested, but the majority had to flee from the country. The whole number of converts of whom I have knowledge is between forty and fifty. 1896 — This year opened in gloom. New massacres of Arme- nians in Oorfa and Eastern Turkey, a desperate rebellion of the Druses in Hauran, who killed hundreds of Turkish regulars, the excitement of the Moslem populace on being obliged to send their brothers, husbands, and sons as reserves to the war, and the continuance of the typhoid epidemic in Beirut, filling the city with mourning ; all these combined to depress the public mind. Ships of war from England, France, and the United States re- stored confidence to the seaport provinces, but the apathy of the Christian powers with regard to the murder of 50,000 men, women, and children in the interior was inexplicable. But it was asserted by British residents in the East that a British fleet was ordered to the Dardanelles, and to force an entrance to the Bosphorus as a protest against the massacres, but just at that moment President Cleveland's raising of a critical question with England with regard to Venezuela occasioned the instant withdrawal of the fleet, and thus the opportunity was lost. On January 4, 1896, I received a cable from a daughter of our dear friend Mr. William A. Booth, announcing his death, January 2d, aged ninety- one. The departure of this patriarch of the missionary Board and supporter and friend of every good cause was a loss to the whole Church. His breadth of view and grasp of all details and bearings of important questions and his im- perturbable serenity and sweetness of disposition made him a man to be sought for as counsellor and friend. His sons and daughters have followed his example. The whole Church mourned his departure. With Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, his fellow elder in the old 14th Street Church, he was one of the original trustees of the Syrian Protestant College, and having visited Syria, he 6i8 Marking Time was wise in counsel and fertile in resources for the good of this institution. During the summer, brother Samuel Jessup and his daughter were afflicted with whooping-cough, and soon after I took it from them. As both Samuel and I had had it in childhood, we concluded that we had it every sixty years. It was quite severe and played such havoc with my voice that in November the physicians enjoined upon me absolute silence and a change of air. This led to my going to Helouan, thirteen miles southeast of Cairo. Here a dry, clear, cloudless atmosphere, cool, bracing desert air at night, and opportunity for walks and donkey rides to the adjacent hills and mountains, with quiet, cool rooms at Heltgel's Hotel, wrought wonders in the way of restoration, and after a month I was able to return to my work in Beirut. On my return I brought about five hundred pounds of geological specimens of fossil wood and shells from the " drift " at Helouan and from the Mukottam mountains east of Cairo. The custom- house inspectors in Beirut were full of amazement at my bring- ing so many stones. They said, " Are there no stones in Syria ? " I might have reminded them that the old Phoenician emperors, and the Greeks and Romans, brought granite and porphyry columns to Syria from Assowan'in Upper Egypt. At the annual meeting of the mission on February 4th, my brother Samuel was stationed in Sidon, whither he removed in October and Mr. Doolittle removed from Sidon to Deir el Komr, the old capital of Lebanon. Miss Mary Lyons, who was born in Beirut in 1855 and taught for a season in Sidon Seminary, died in Montrose, Pa., the home of her father, June I2th. March 2d Messrs. John Wanamaker, John W. Parsons, and W. W. Crapo arrived on the Furst Bismarck. Mr. Wana- maker gave a stirring talk to the college students and gave a sub- stantial contribution towards a new professorship. Mrs. H. A. De Forest died in Lakewood April 3, 1896. Death of Mrs. De Forest 619 It was hard to understand why the blessed work of Dr. and Mrs. De Forest was so prematurely interrupted in 1854, when their mastery of the Arabic language, their intellectual culture and unusual gifts and graces of personal character had fitted them to mould a whole generation of Syrian youth. The Russian consul in Beirut, the Prince Gargarin, who is superintendent of the Russian Schools in Syria, ordered our Arabic Scriptures to be put in all the Russian Schools. They purchased in one year some 7,000 copies, and thus thousands of children of the Orthodox Greek sect will be taught to read the Word of God. After the siege of Zeitoon in Asia Minor by Turkish troops, when the hardy Armenian mountaineers defeated the Turkish regulars in battle after battle, a surrender was arranged through the interposition and guarantees of the British consul in Aleppo. But owing to want of food, exposure, and cold, a pestilence broke out among the people, attended by famine. The Red Cross Society telegraped to Beirut for doctors and medicines, and April 4th, Dr. Ira Harris of Tripoli left for Zeitoon accom- panied by two faithful doctors. Dr. Faris Sahyun and Dr. Amin Maloof, graduates of the Beirut Medical College. After encoun- tering great difficulties from the local governors along the road who feared that this deputation might in some way " aid or abet " the Armenian revolt, they reached Zeitoon and found famine, fever, and dysentery raging and at once opened a soup kitchen and fed the half-starved people, treated them for disease, cleaned the town of filth unspeakable and finally the plague was stayed. In April, the United States minister in Constantinople left on a visit to America. He was a man of much energy, and in lan- guage more forcible than Scriptural had threatened the Porte, in case any American should be killed in the massacres, with dire consequences. Orders actually went out from the Porte that all American missionaries be ordered to leave the empire at once. 620 Marking Time Nothing was known of this among the foreigners in Constanti- nople until Saturday p. m., March 28th, when Sir Philip Currie, British ambassador, received a telegram from the British consul in Moosh that the Waly there informed him that he had received such an irade and had ordered the American missionaries in Bitlis and Van to leave in forty-eight hours. Sir Philip drove at once to the house of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and de- manded an explanation. The minister denied that such an order had been issued, but the next morning, Sunday, when Mr. Block was sent by Sir Philip to demand an explanation, he admitted it but that it was not his work. Sir Philip then sent word to Mr. Riddle, United States Charge d'affaires, in the absence of Judge Turrell, and they went together to the grand vizier and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They both admitted it had been sent. Sir Philip then in the joint name of England and the United States, demanded that the order be revoked within twenty-four hours and that a copy of its revocation be given them. The Turkish ofificial retraction of the imperial irade or order for the expulsion of the American missionaries I copy from the Beirut Arabic journal, Lisan el Hal. Removal of Ambiguity April II, i8g6. The imperial government issued orders to the Walys of Anatolic (Asia Minor) to expel from the kingdoms preserved of God all for- eigners who had had a hand in disturbing the public tranquillity. The Waly of Bitlis supposed that these orders referred to the American mis- sionaries living in his district. This has obliged the imperial govern- ment to remove the ambiguity. It has therefore issued other orders enjoining the protection of the aforesaid missionaries, and that they continue to carry on their work as usual, and that they enjoy what they have enjoyed and still continue to enjoy, of rest, security and liberty, in their religious works. This was done, and thus the intrigues of the Russian agents who instigated the Turk to this action were thwarted. Hopkin- Hopkinson Smith's Mistake 621 son Smith's theory of American responsibility for the massacres was about as logical as that the Bible was to blame for the massacre of St. Bartholomew, or the Spanish Inquisition, or that the English Magna Charta was responsible for the horrors of the French Revolution. It was an important element in the case that owing to the fact that the American missionaries were acting as disbursing agents of British charity to the Armenian widows and orphans, Sir Philip Currie regarded them as so far under British protection, and thus Mr. Riddle could act jointly with him in all representa- tions at the Porte. Had Judge Turrell been at his post, he might, with his Texan independence, have decHned to join with Sir Philip in the forcible protest to the Sultan, and thus the representation failed of its immediate object. As it was, the dual intrigue of the Cossack and Tartar was thwarted by the joint action of the Anglo-Saxon representatives. Hopkinson Smith stated to the American journals that Judge Turrell told him that " the missionaries are to blame for the massacres and that they have fomented rebellion, sedition," etc. Judge Turrell utterly denied this statement of the American artist, Mr. Smith seemed incapable of appreciating the great work done in Turkey by his countrymen in founding schools, colleges, seminaries, printing-presses, and hospitals during the previous seventy years. On May 2d I went aboard the French steamer to see Rev.. Geo. Knapp, an American missionary from Bitlis, who informed me that he was forcibly arrested and expelled from the city, leav- ing his mother, wife, and two children behind him. False charges were made against him and he only consented to come away, as a massacre was threatened if he did not. At Diarbekir they refused to let him send a telegram to his minister in Con- stantinople and he was expelled in midwinter. They offered to release him in Aleppo if he would sign a pledge not to return to Biths. Of course he refused. They endorsed his passpon, 622 Marking Time " expelled from Turkey." At Alexandretta they refused to give him up to the American vice-consul, Mr. Walker. Mr. Walker telegraphed to Consul Gibson in Beirut who at once telegraphed Captain Jewell of the United States ship Marblehead to go to Alexandretta. The Turks heard of this telegram and on Friday released Mr. Knapp, who went at once to Mr. Walker's. The Marblehead arrived Sunday, April 26th, and Captain Jewell sent his boat and took Mr. Knapp to the French steamship bound for Constantinople via Beirut. He went to Constantinople to demand a fair trial there. The British consul in Bitlis declared the charges against him to be utterly unfounded. Senator Sherman in the Independent of April 30th, replying to Prof. A. D. F. Hamlin, makes the announcement that " if our citizens go to a far distant country, semi-civilized and bitterly opposed to them, we cannot follow them there and protect them," etc. This is an astonishing statement. Can it be that Mr. Sherman never heard of Daniel Webster's letter to the United States minister in Constantinople in 1841 that " an American citizen will be protected as an American citizen always and everywhere no matter what his business or occupation." Fortunately, Senator Sherman did not voice the policy of our government. It would be well if our public men, especially the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, could take a journey around the world and see something more of the world than their own states and districts, and perhaps enjoy the privilege of being kicked out of the " semi-civilized " lands by men who have no fear that America will protect her sons. He seems to think that a " declaration of war" is the only way of protecting our citizens. But surely England, France, Germany, and Italy protect their citizens with- out declaring war, because they know how to speak in plain language. Should Mr. Sherman's views be adopted by the American government, it would be wise for our citizens in the interior of Turkey, Persia, and China to put themselves under the protection of the British consuls who would protect them against all comers. Scarlet Fever Gets in Duty Free 623 The 1 8th of April was a memorable day for the suffering people of Syria. The executive committee of the " Lebanon Hospital for the Insane " was organized in Beirut. In May, the scarlet fever appeared in Beirut for the first time and many children fell victims to it. It was thought to have been brought in the baggage of emigrants returning from America, as it also appeared among them in Zahleh. In June the Presbytery of Mount Lebanon and Beirut was organized in Zahleh, and has continued an efficient working body until the present time. In October Miss Bernice Hunting arrived from America as colleague with Miss La Grange in the Tripoli Girls' School. September 20th, to the great regret of the entire American community and all the Europeans and natives who knew him, our excellent consul, Thomas R. Gibson, of Georgia, died of smallpox in the hospital of the Knights of St. John in Beirut. Mrs. Gerald F. Dale, having written from America resigning her connection with the mission, the members in attendance at the semi-annual meeting in June embodied in a minute their deep regret at this sundering of our official connections and commending her to the care and guidance of the Great Head of the Church. She has endeared herself to not only her fellow labourers, but to the women and girls in many towns and villages in Syria. She is now (1908) superintendent of the Maria DeWitt Jesup hospitals for women and children and training- school for nurses in the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. In July a new rebellion broke out in Hauran and the Druses surprised and massacred two battalions of Turkish troops and tore up the railroad tracks and the telegraph wires. Twenty-five hundred troops were brought on from Macedonia to quell the insurrection. Only last winter the Druses were defeated, crushed, and nominally brought into subjection. The Lebanon Druses 624 Marking Time claim that the reason of the present outbreak is the outrages committed by the Turkish troops on their women and girls. The Turkish government with great mihtary sagacity have now (1906) opened three railway lines of approach to the Druse strongholds, the two roads from Damascus to Mezeirib from the north, and the Haifa railroad from the west, so that a future Druse rebellion in Hauran is well-nigh impossible. During this year the Zahleh manse was erected but not com- pleted. Mr. Hoskins sailed for America in September, having ably superintended the work of construction. But the funds were exhausted and the building was roofless, and in peril from the coming winter rains and snows. I went over September i8th and with my son William contracted with Omar, the head car- penter, to put on the tiles at once, raising the necessary funds from private sources. It has been the policy of the mission not to erect residences for missionaries where suitable dry native houses can be leased. But years of leaky roofs and vermin-infested ceilings and walls in Zahleh and the large amount expended annually in rents, con- vinced the mission and the Board that Zahleh was an exception to the rule. Hence through the liberality of intelligent friends in New York, Pittsburg, and other places, the funds were pro- vided, and the members of the station have a dry, clean, com- fortable house. 1897 — ^^ January I was at Helouan, the desert city southeast of Cairo, trying to recover my voice lost by whooping-cough. In February, the mission having again changed its mind as to the desirability of conducting theological education in Beirut, voted to sell the fine edifice known as the " Theological Build- ing " on the college grounds to the college trustees, the same being changed to '• Morris K. Jesup Hall " in honour of the donor of the purchase money. The fund received was retained by the Board for use in case of future need for theological edu- cation. Brainless Censorship 625 Our Argus-eyed friends, the censors, suppressed our Arabic geography, which the government had officially approved in several editions, as the word " Armenia " was used to describe that province in Eastern Turkey which has been known by that name since the days of the kings of Israel; and Arabia was spoken of as an independent province. They also struck out of the book, " The Right Road," the verse quoted from Titus i : 5, — " For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city." The censor argued, " Crete is un- der the Sultan, and who dares assert that anything can be warit- hig in his imperial domains ? " So they struck out the disloyal passage, although every verse in the Bible has the official sanc- tion of His Imperial Majesty's government ! Alas, protest is useless. Were His Majesty cognizant of the lack of brains in his press censors, he would probably order them to be put on a diet of fish and phosphorus. When a jealous general complained sanctimoniously to President Lincoln that General Grant, the captor of Vicksburg, drank whiskey, the President replied, " Is that so ? If you can tell me what brand of whiskey General Grant uses, I will order a supply for all the generals, as he seems to be the only one who does things." It would be well if educated men could be put in charge of the de- partment of pubhc instruction. We have had censors in Syria who knew neither geography nor history, and who pronounced on books whose language they did not understand. In March we were favoured with another visit from my dear friend, the venerable Canon H. B. Tristram, who was travelling with Miss Kennaway, daughter of Sir John Kennaway of the Church Missionary Society. We drove together to the Dog River and examined again the locality of bone breccia which he discovered thirty-three years before, and from which I had quarried a camel load for him and his English scientific friends. He viewed with interest the great progress made in all the Protestant missionary institutions, and spoke as a scientific 626 Marking Time botanist with the highest appreciation of the great work of Dr. Geo. E. Post on the " Flora of Syria and Palestine." We were grieved to learn afterwards from Jerusalem that he was kicked by a horse at Bethany and had his leg broken. The friendship of such men as Canon Tristram and Sir William Muir I greatly prize. They both were fine specimens of the learned class in England, who are at the same time earnest Protestant evangelical Christians, in warm sympathy with Chris- tian missions as well as with the progress of learning. Canon Tristram had no sympathy with those mimics of popery in the Church of England, who repudiate the name Protestant, nor had he any sympathy with the attempts to fraternize with the ikon worshipping and Mariolatrous Oriental Church. During the month of April I was visiting the well-known Mo- hammed Efifendi B of Beirut during Ramadan and the con- versation turned to the subject of fasting. He remarked that some of the Christian ecclesiastics who compel their people to fast in Lent are not very scrupulous themselves about fasting. He said that he was once invited during Lent to dine with a company of officials at the house of a Christian bishop. The bishop was fasting and had special dishes prepared for him and his priests. The rest of the food consisted of meat and chicken and the usual courses. He sat next the bishop around the Ori- j ental table and each one was helping himself with his hands from the dish before him. In the midst of the meal the light went out, and they were left in darkness. While the servant went for another lamp they continued eating, and as he ex- tended his hand to help himself to chicken, he grasped the hand of the bishop in the platter of chicken ! There was mutual laughter and the matter passed as a capital joke. One can imagine the effect produced upon the mind of this intelligent Moslem by the insincerity of his ecclesiastical friend. When he told it to me, he added, " We have Moslems who eat in Ramadan on the sly." This is notorious. The back room of a well-known druggist in Beirut is frequented in Ramadan by young Moslems A Season of Sorrow 627 who lunch there unseen by the public. Not a few Turkish officials lunch openly during Ramadan at the hotels and restau- rants. The summer of 1897 was a season of sorrow and anxiety throughout mission circles in Syria, On the 6th of June Rev. Archibald Stuart, of the Irish Pres- byterian Church in Damascus, died of typhoid fever. His friend, Dr. McKinnon, brought him in from Nebk to the Victoria Hospital in Damascus, but he sank rapidly and passed away. He was probably the most promising young missionary in Western Asia, of great intellectual and spiritual gifts, a preacher of power and unction and beloved by the people. He gave a series of sermons to the college students in Beirut in February, and won the hearts of all. On the same day. Miss James, recently directress of the British Syrian Schools, died in England, greatly lamented. Her influence while in Syria was profoundly spiritual and uplifting. The week previous, Rev. David Metheny, M. D., the veteran missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Mersina, the port of Tarsus, died of heart failure. He was a man of great medical and surgical skill, a good Arabic preacher, of extra- ordinary energy, tender hearted and self-denying, generous and sympathetic with the poor. He was on the point of sailing for America with his family, when heart disease, which had kept him long in expectation of sudden death, culminated in instant release from pain and suffering. I loved the good brother. We differed on the subject of hymn singing, but he was a great lover of good music. In 1886 we sang together the old negro melodies and he accompanied on the violin, as Mrs. Jessup and I sang the words. We taught him " Old Black Joe," whose pathetic weirdness seemed to touch a tender spot in his refined nature. But at family prayers nothing but the psalms could be used. And we did not discuss the hymn question. I used to tell him that we have one advantage. " You can only sing psalms. We can also sing psalms, and hymns besides." He would sing 628 Marking Time hymns as musical practice in off hours, but never in pubHc or private worship. His successors are good and true men and I long for the day when we can all meet in religious conferences and sit together at the table of our common Lord. After his removal from Latakia to Mersina, he purchased land on the seashore near the port and proceeded to erect a mis- sion house. The Waly at Adana ordered him to stop, after the house was nearing completion. He did not stop. The Waly then sent word that he would come down on the railroad with troops and force him to stop and tear down the building. Be- fore the train arrived, a telegram reached the doctor, " The United States ship Marblehead will be in Mersina to-morrow." Just then the train came in, and the troops began their march with the Waly at their head. The doctor gave the telegram to his teacher and said, " Take this to the Waly wherever he is, on the street, and ask him to appoint a suitable officer to escort the American admiral to-morrow to the American premises ! " The Waly read the telegram, gave new orders, and the troops wheeled and after marching around the city, brought up at the railroad station headed for Adana. The doctor was not molested after that episode. The Zahleh station was severely smitten. My son William was ill with typhoid fever for forty days and during his illness, when too weak to know what was transpiring, his infant son, Henry, died of cholera infantum. I was there at the time, and at midnight left Zahleh in a carriage with an aunt of the dear child and drove to Beirut, bearing the little casket for burial in the old mission cemetery. That midnight drive over the heights of Lebanon, with that little dead grandchild, was one of those solemn scenes which can never be effaced from human memory. The father was not informed of his death for two weeks, when fever had ceased and his strength began to return. The Lord gave him strength to bear it patiently but it was a bitter trial. While Williani was at the most critical stage of the fever, a fire Fighting Fire 629 broke out in the flue of the kitchen fireplace. The walls were of sun-dried brick and the chimney was simply a hole between the outer and inner walls made of clay and cut straw or tibn. The tibn had ignited and when the cook discovered the fire at 3 p. M,, the entire chimney up to the roof was a glowing coal of fire, A terrific wind was blowing at the time and the only available water was a few jars in the house brought from the river a quarter of a mile distant. I went up a ladder to the roof and gave the alarm to the neighbours. Owing to the gale we could hardly stand on the roof and as jar after jar of water was brought by the kind neighbours, we poured it down the chim- ney. For a full hour we fought the fire and finally thought we had subdued it. The tiled roof which adjoined the chimney was made of timber dry as tinder and extended over the court and over the room of the sick one. Had the cook not discovered the fire just as he did, the flame which had already licked the ends of the beams of the tiled roof would have swept over the whole house and blocked all exit from the sick-room. Before sunset the watchman whom we had left on the roof shouted that the fire had broken out afresh and we had another half hour's struggle, using all the water in the vicinity until at length the whole wall was water soaked and the house was saved. It was one of those providential deliverances which fill the heart with grati- tude and praise to Him who careth for us. I cannot think of that hour of peril without a shudder. Later in the season, his daughter Elizabeth was 'prostrated with typhoid and December i8th, Mrs. William Jessup, the mother, perceiving symptoms of the same malady, took the train for Beirut and entered the St. John's Hospital, where, under the care of Dr. Graham and the German deaconesses as nurses, she came through safely. Meantime, a lovely English girl. Miss Kitty Dray, teaching in the British Syrian School in Zahleh, died of the same fell disease and was brought to Beirut for burial. Our hearts were gladdened by the arrival of my son Frederick, 630 Marking Time who, after graduating at Princeton, had come to serve a three years' course as tutor in the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut. At this time came a staggering blow from the West. The Board of Missions, in view of financial stress, cut off at one stroke fifteen thousand dollars from the annual appropriation to the mission. That is, more than one-fourth of the allowance for the foreign and native labourers, the seminaries, schools, itineracy, publication, and hospital work. The bitter pill was sugar coated with fraternal assurances of great regret and sympathy with us in our distress. The mission was called to- gether and the surgeon knife of vivisection had to do its work. About forty village schools were closed, about one-half of which were kindly taken up by the British Syrian Mission. Many teachers, trained and experienced, were discharged ; others resigned and entered the employment of other societies with our full approbation. Who could blame a man with a wife and nine children for resigning when his salary was reduced from thirty to twenty dollars a month ? Every department took its share of the " cut." The native churches and congregations were urged to assume more of their expenses. The missionaries gave of their scanty means to re- lieve the pressure. Owing to the extraordinary rise in the cost of living, hardly a missionary in Syria can live on his salary, and but for private resources would have to resign and go home. We have had frequent " cuts," as they are called, but this was " the most unkindest cut of all," not because of any conceivable unkindness on the part of the Board or the Church at home, but from its placing us in the position of discriminating in our own favour, when applying the excision to others. It would be a happy day for missions if they could be carried on without money ; and the most trying feature of the work is its making the foreign missionary an employer and the native labourers em- ployees. In a great press like that in Beirut, we have nearly fifty male and female employees, but the press manager, for- tunately now a layman, pays all the wages. When Dr. Van 1-5 ^ ^ o S £3 m Who Should Bear the Burden of a " Cut " ? 631 Dyck, myself, Dr. Samuel Jessup, and Dr. Eddy, in turn and for years had the management of the press, and at the same time were preaching to the people and doing pastoral work among them, our souls were vexed beyond measure with begging letters and begging visits, asking for employment or for increase in wages, or complaining of each other, and, in case of disappointment, threatening to leave the church and accusing us of partiality or severity. Alas, that although we have transferred this odious business relation in the press to the broad shoulders of Mr. Freyer, whose nine years in the United States Navy enable him to carry on the business like clockwork, and whose " Savings Bank " system has won the admiration and secured the loyalty of all his employees, we still have to act as school superintendents and paymasters to a small army of helpers and teachers all over the land. Happy the missions, like Korea and Uganda, where the people support their own mission churches and schools, and glad will be the day when Syria follows in their train. This mission began years ago by giving everything gratis and hiring men to teach and preach. Many " false brethren " were thus foisted upon the mission " unawares " who afterwards denied the faith and went back " worse than before." And when in the period between i860 and 1870 the question of paying for educa- tion and church support was raised, the missionaries were openly charged with robbing the natives of money intended for them. The news of the severe retrenchment of our work was accom- panied by a letter suggesting a contribution from every mission- ary of the Board towards paying the debt of the Board. The letter implied that some have already given to the extent of their ability to relieve the work in the field from the cut. This was true of us all. Yet we were willing to do and did even more. I received from England a contribution which touched me much. Miss Mary P. Bailey, one of the secretaries of the British Syrian Mission, wrote me as follows : 632 Marking Time British Syrian Mission^ Wimbledon^ England, July 7, iBgy. Dear Dr. Jessup : I was very much touched yesterday, by receiving from an officer's servant a gift of two shillings six pence for the American Mis- sions in Syria. So I forward it at once to you in English stamps. The man's address I enclose. The gift is small but it comes from a man of prayer, and I believe God will use it as a lever to raise a large sum of money to supply your need. He has used small, weak things before. He still uses them. This man (although only an officer's groom) gives six pence every month for the British Syrian Mission. Writing to him the other day, I told him of the sad sorrow you were in and asked him to pray that your helpful, beautiful work might not be reduced for want of funds. We cannot spare one of your stations in Syria. May the Lord in- crease you more and more. A little boy was once present in a church in London, when one of our missionary societies was in terrible need, and the cause was being earnestly pleaded. When this child got home, he said to his mother, " Mother, did you hear what the minister asked for, so very much money ? I am only a little boy, but I would like to give him my silver mug for the missionaries : may I? " The mother said, " I am not quite sure, ray boy, if your father will like you to do that, but we will ask him." The father gladly agreed and the mug was sent to Mr. Bickersteth and sold. He told the story of the child's love to his congregation next Sunday, and in the two following Sundays the whole of the necessary money was raised. "A Uttle child shall lead them." That child is now a missionary in India. May this be so with you, and may your hearts be gladdened by your treasury being filled, and your work extended. I well remember our prayer-meetings in Beirut in your drawing-room and long to join you again one day. Till then, and while my Lord keeps me working at home, Believe me. Yours in the hope of His speedy coming, Mary P. Bailey. Deputation Secretary British Syrian Mission. The gifts of the poor, transfigured by prayer, and winged with Source of Missionary Inspiration 633 love, will surely stir up the more favoured members of our churches to give hberally and upbraid not. There will be a good deal of heart searching and new dedica- tion of all to Christ awakened by this movement of a universal offering of the seven hundred missionaries of the Board ! There will be much giving out of straits and distress, but none the less it will be a joyous offering. For many years, the smaller missions in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and the irrepressible " independent " one-man and one- woman missions, having few native agents, and having no better principles about self-support than we had fifty years ago, would offer higher salaries than we with our 120 native agents could possibly pay, and hence our best trained young men and women, naturally desirous of improving their condition, would suddenly resign and leave us in the lurch. " Served you right," our Korean missionary brethren would say to us. " You set the pace and now they're only following your example." " 'Tis true 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true." But the experience of this year, 1897, has helped to forward the cause of self-support and now, in 1909, owing to the increasing self-respect of the Syrian brethren, and the fact that many who have emigrated to America, Brazil, and Australia are either re- turning with ample means or sending money to pay for the edu- cation of their kindred, the native contributions show a constant and hopeful increase. In response to a request of the Board, I prepared an article for the Church at Home and Abroad on " From whence does the Church derive its Missionary Inspiration ?" and argued that it is not from our church standards which have only remote allusions to the subject, nor from spasmodic appeals in public meetings. The then recent Lambeth Conference admitted that " the Thirty- nine Articles do not allude to the Church's duty to the heathen world." That conference of 194 bishops in its encyclical letter 634 Marking Time declared that '• The cause of missions is the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ. For some centuries, it may be said, we have slum- bered. The Book of Common Prayer contains very few prayers for missionary work." Why did not these good men add some new missionary prayers to their prayer-book ? And why does not the Presbyterian Church inject a missionary spirit into its Confession of Faith ? The only conclusion is that we must depend for our " inspira- tion " upon the Word of God, the commands of Christ, and the example of the apostles.^ Two epidemics scourged Beirut in the fall, in addition to the typhoid, — malignant black smallpox and rabies among the dogs, \ Scores died of the smallpox and patients walked the streets and ■ rode unmolested by the police in the public carriages. It is not ; safe for any foreigner, tourist or scholar, to come to this land f without revaccinatiori, for smallpox lurks everywhere and nu- merous tourists have taken it while here or soon after leaving. A young German was taken ill in Beirut with smallpox and removed to the pest- house of St. John's Hospital where he was attended by Dr. Graham and the deaconesses. Delirium set in and his whole body was black with the virulent disease. One day Dr. Graham entered the room and found the patient a raving maniac, having stripped off all his clothing. He sprang like a tiger upon Dr. Graham, caught him by the throat and hurled him to the floor. Then followed a terrific struggle, and the doctor succeeded at length in throwing him off, and calling for help. He was smeared with blood but made out to bind the poor suf- ferer, who soon expired. The doctor's account of that loathsome wrestling match almost curdles one's blood. He did not contract the disease, however, and his example must have had a wholesome influence upon his medical pupils who were cognizant of the facts. The epidemic of rabies among the street dogs, for the first time in my knowledge, alarmed the Moslems. They dread to kill a dog. Dogs are the scavengers, living in colonies in the streets ^ Since this was written, the Presbyterian Confession has been " re- vised," and a better showing given to the work of missions. Mad Dog I 635 and making night hideous with their howHng. But several Mos- lems were bitten by a rabid dog and were hurried to the Pasteur Institute in Constantinople. Other dogs had been bitten. Some-' thing must be done. The example of the English in Alexandria, who had annihilated the whole dog population, was resorted to. The edict went forth and in one week 1,300 dogs were poisoned or shot, and were buried a mile distant in the sands. For once, Beirut was quiet at night. The Moslems felt lonely. Two years after, they sent to Sidon and Tripoli and imported two sloop- loads of " curs of low degree " and repopulated the deserted streets, and now the dogs own the city once more, and are in- creasing with fearful rapidity. A Moslem convert, Naamet Ullah, who was converted in 1895, came to Beirut in the spring. He was arrested, thrown into the army and wrote me a letter from the military barracks. He was taken with his regiment to Hauran where he deserted, reappeared in Beirut, thence to Tripoli, where he took ship to Egypt and disappeared from view. Three Maronite priests and one Coptic monk called at different times and offered to become Protestants on condition that their expenses be paid to America. They were treated kindly, but we informed them that we were not an emigration agency, and tried to convince them of the sin of such a hypocritical profession. It is to be taken for granted that the most hopeless, spiritually, of all the Orientals are the priests and monks. Their consciences seem seared as if with a hot iron. In November I mailed to America the manuscript of the life of Kamil to which allusion has already been made. I cannot but regret that the dear young man requested me to return to him the original of all his Arabic journals and the correspondence with his father. Providentially I had translated them all into English, and it would be possible to retranslate them into the original Arabic, but the aroma of his beautiful style could not be repro- duced. All those manuscripts fell into the hands of the Turkish 636 Marking Time soldiers in Bussorah and whether they were kept or destroyed cannot be ascertained. ' In August Naoom Pasha, Governor of Lebanon, was reap- pointed for five years. He was a good governor. A deputation of five members of our mission called upon him and congratulated him on his reappointment. He was most courteous and showed us through all the apartments of the B'teddin palace. In October I received a letter from Chicago inquiring about Mr. Ibrahim Khairullah, the Syrian, who was attempting to propagate Babism in the United States. I sent to Mr. Stowella " Life of Mr. Ibrahim Khairullah," written by his relative and intimate friend in Beirut. I give here a copy of my letter, but the " Memoir " is not of sufficient value to be reproduced. His temporary success in the occult art business is only another instance of the gullibil- ity of human nature. Three years later I visited Abbas Effendi in Haifa and an account of the interview was published in the Outlook of June 22, 1901. A recent book by M. H. Phelps of New York, 1904, gives a very fair account of this Persian bubble* showing that it is nothing new in religious history but a revamp of ancient Pantheistic theories. Mr. Phelps' summary of Abbas Effendi's teaching as " Love to God and Man " shows it to be as old as Christ and Moses. It is the essence of New Testament ethics, and there are millions of Christians to-day living according to this standard as far as they can by the aid of divine grace. Abbas Effendi is almost a Christian. But his latitudinarian views that all men, pagans, idolaters, and all are accepted of God, would seem to make any attempt to propagate Babism a work of supererogation. The letter to Mr. Stowell is as follows : " I received yours of September 24th in due time, and last week sent your letter to a reliable person in Beirut who is a rela- tive of the man you mention. It is evident that the man has been at his wit's end to know how to make a living and is now trying a new religion. The enclosed brief chronicle you can rely upon as being correct. " The book you speak of as ♦ Bab el Din,' Revelation from the The Babite Bubble 637 East, is either that mongrel mass of stuff written by the Greek priest, Christofory Jebara, for the World's ParHament of Religions, in which the author would bring about a union between Chris- tianity and Islam by our all becoming Moslems ; or some new rehash of Professor Browne of Cambridge, England, on the ' Episode of the Bab,' the Persian delusion whose head man» Beha-uUah in Acre claimed to be an incarnation of God and on his death a few years ago his son. Abbas Effendi, succeeded him and is running the ' incarnation ' fraud for all that it is worth, and that is worth a good deal, as pilgrims constantly come from the Babite sect in Persia and bring their offerings of money with great liberality. " Such men as Jebara and the Babites of Persia turn up now and then in the East, ' go up like a rocket and down like the stick.' The priest Jebara made no converts as far as I can learn, unless Mr. KhairuUah be one. The fact is there was nothing to be con- verted to. You can't love or pray to a mere negation. " The Babite movement in Persia started out as an attempt at a reform of Islam and ended by the leader claiming to be divine and invulnerable in battle, but when he died, another was found ready to succeed to his pretensions. " They teach a strange mixture of truth and error, of extreme liberality and unscrupulous persecution of those obnoxious to them. I had a friend a few years ago, a learned Mohammedan of Bagdad, who was feeling his way to Christianity. His father, a wealthy man, died when he was young, and his uncle, a Babite, determined to train up the lad as a Babite. But the boy as he grew up refused to accept Babism. The uncle then robbed him of his property and drove him out of Bagdad. A few years ago he came here, professed Christianity, and was baptized in Alex- andria, Egypt. While here, he went down to Acre to visit one of the Babites whom he had formerly known. After remaining there a few days, he found out that his uncle had written to Acre about him and one night he received word that his life was in danger if he stayed through the night and he escaped to Beirut in great terror. 638 Marking Time " Some months ago, an elderly Persian Babite called at our press in Beirut, and some time after brought a beautiful gilt motto on a large wall card which he gave us. He said he prayed to that motto for twelve years, and now, after reading the Bible, he has decided to give up such folly, (On the card was written in Arabic ' O glory of the most glorious,' — the mystic prayer of the Babites.) " The Greek Jebara wants the Moslem lion and the Christian Iamb to lie down together, only the lamb must be inside the lion. " The Babites want all to become lambs, even if they have to use force to make them so. Their blasphemous claim that the Acre sheikh is God is quite enough to condemn them. " I earnestly pray that Mr. Khairullah may be led by God's Spirit back to the pure faith of his youth when he covenanted to take the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. " It is easy to be specious and plausible but secret religious sects are dangerous and secret propagandism which you say is his method, is a confession of weakness. Truth loves the light and if the ' Bab el Din ' is afraid of the light and of open discussion, it should be avoided by every God-fearing man and woman. " We have two secret religions in Syria, that of the Druses and the Nusairiyeh, both bound to secrecy by awful oaths and impre- cations. Our divine Lord in the third chapter of John says, ' Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.' ' But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God.' " If a Druse or Nusairy leaves his sect, his life is regarded as forfeited. " American Christians believe that Christ is the Light of the World. The Lord deliver them from the delirious blasphemies of the Asiastics who claim to be God Himself ! " In reply to a letter from Dr. Paul Carus, I wrote the following : " I owe you an apology for so long delaying in acknowledging the receipt of the ' edition de luxe ' of the secretary's report on the Religious Parliament Extension. Parliament of Religions and Islam 639 " You request an expression ' of your views of the outlook of the rehgious life as it appears to you both in your own sphere and the world at large.' " The Parliament had little influence on the public mind in Western Asia. No Mohammedan from this part of the globe at- tended it, and the Greek archimandrite who read a paper, repre- sented no one but himself in advocating a union of Christianity and Islam by surrendering the cardinal doctrines of the former. " The Mohammedans would not go and had they gone they would have been prohibited from publishing any report on their return. " Liberty of the press on religious questions is unknown in this empire, and any journal which should criticize Islam or the Koran would be summarily suppressed. " The events of the past two years, whatsoever their cause, have brought out into bold relief the worst features of an exclusive and uncompromising religious system. " Murders, robberies, rapes, spoliation, the abduction of women and girls, and enforced apostasy from Christianity have been sanctioned not only by the officials of the dominant faith, but by a responsive awakening of popular fanaticism. " Thoughtful men who are restless under the suppression of free thought are compelled to be silent and cry to God for relief. There is no such thing as public opinion. The press simply echoes the views of the local censor, and the censor, the views of the central authority. " With regard to the Maronite, Orthodox Greek, and Papal Greek sects of Syria, there is little to hope for from the higher ecclesiastics. One prominent patriarch purchased his chair by bribes, amounting, it is publicly asserted, to ten thousand pounds. " A notable exception to the simony intrigue and avarice of the higher ecclesiastics is the Orthodox Greek Bishop of Hums (the ancient Emesa), who has placed the Bible in all his schools where twelve hundred children are taught and is labouring efficiently to enlighten and elevate his people. " The influence of Protestant education and literature on the 640 Marking Time rank and file of the people is palpable on every side. The rising generation of all sects is better informed, more liberal and tolerant, than the past. Schools which have been founded to keep out the light have let it in. Public sentiment with regard to the honour and dignity of woman has undergone a wonderful change. The veil continues and the hareem seclusion continues, but the veiled and secluded have begun to think for themselves. " Mohammedan young men will no longer consent to marry girls they have never seen, but now in Beirut, visit them and drive out with them on the public highways with the mothers as chaperones. " A visit to the homes of educated Christian young women in Syria is an impressive object-lesson as to the value of a Christian education for girls. Their houses are well ordered, tidy, cheer- ful, and happy. The more attractive features of Oriental hos- pitality have a new charm in these enlightened Christian families* " The general religious outlook in the empire is hopeful, not- withstanding the dreadful Armenian massacres of the past two years. The healing touch of the divine hand and the awakening tones of the divine voice have brought life and thoughtfulness and spiritual quickening, whereas before the massacres all was apathy and death. God's judgments, instead of hardening, have softened men's hearts. In Anatolia the schools are crowded with pupils and the churches cannot contain the thronging worshippers. Old enemies have become friends of the Gospel. The very means used for the extermination of gospel light have ended in its wider dissemination. The Gregorian Armenian hierarchy have become the friends of the Protestant missionaries. As the massacres of i860 in Syria broke up the fallow ground and pre- pared the way for the new sowing of the gospel seed, so the events of 1 895-1 896 are proving to have turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel. " Taking a wider view of religious thought in the Eastern world, the truth is not lost and will not lose by the • brotherly exchange of thought ' that is now more and more pervading the world. Insincere and designing men may deceive ' all of their Mission Statistics in 1897 641 countrymen some of the time, and some of them all of the time ; but they cannot cheat all men always.' " Truth is patient, God is patient. It can afford to be conde- scending though misunderstood, and generous though it be called weak, but it is never impatient for the harvest before the seed has had time to grow. " Western Asia, India, China and Japan may be misled for a time by those who assure them in obscure and misty phrase that the citadel of Christian truth is fallen forever; but when the mists have cleared away, the shining battlements will ' look forth, bright as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and ter- rible as an army with banners.' " In diplomacy, nothing baffles cunning like the frankness of simple truth, and in the sphere of religion, nothing defeats the sophistries of Asiatic heathenism and the assumption of Islam like the plain preaching of salvation through Christ and Him crucified." The missionary statistics for the year 1 897 were as follows : The whole number of children in Protestant schools in Syria and Palestine is about 17,000, of whom at least 8,000 are girls. Enrolled Protestants as a civil sect, 7,000. American Press, Beirut Number of publications on press catalogue . 60 1 Publications issued in 1896 and 1897 . . . 282,000 Pages printed from the first 578,000,000 Syrian Protestant College, Beirut 1896-1897, whole number of students 309 Graduates to date, collegiate 164 " ** " medical 163 " " " pharmaceutical 53 380 Number of professors and instructors 25 Protestant orphanages in Syria and Palestine 5 Protestant hospitals and dispensaries in Syria and Palestine, 36 642 Marking Time Hospitals in Beirut Protestant, St. John's. Roman Catholic, St. Joseph's. Orthodox Greek, St. George's. Turkish military hospital. Municipality hospital. Arabic Journals in Beirut Protestant 4 Orthodox Greek 2 Turkish official i Roman Catholic 4 Mohammedan 2 13 A New York gentleman wrote asking me to give him an ac- count of all the missionary work and " societies of a political character " at work in Turkey. I replied, giving an account of the various missions but stated that, " I know of no political societies but the order of Jesuits. All the Americans in Turkey, an empire of absolute despotism, keep entirely aloof from political questions. In our published books and periodicals we cannot mention politics. The censorship of the press is more severe than in Russia. Our object is to introduce light, to educate the young, to care for the sick and suffering, publish good and useful books, and let the government alone." In September, my daughter, Ethel Hyde Jessup, was married in Aleih, Mount Lebanon, to Franklin T. Moore, M.D., of the Syrian Protestant College. In October Miss Ellen Law was obliged to leave for America on account of her health and my daughter Anna took her place for a year and a half. Rev. Messrs. Hoskins and Hardin returned from America, the former in October and the latter in December. 1898 — March 13th we had a visit from President Angell, United States Minister to Constantinople. Minister Angell's Visit 643 That visit was a benediction to us all, nationally, intellectually, and spiritually. He arrived with Mrs. Angell on Sunday morning, March 13th, on the steamship A Her, which had been lying at Jaffa, as its excursion tourists had gone up to Jerusalem. A pro- tracted gale of wind had prevented the usual steamer from com- munication with Jaffa and consequently the volume of detained travellers who had returned from Jerusalem to Jaffa was very great, and all the hotels were crowded. Dr. Angell, Mr. Isidor Straus of New York, and about twenty others tried to catch English and Egyptian steamers which came to Jaffa to take them to Beirut, but in vain. At length the captain of the AZ/tr having extra time on his hands, agreed to bring the party to Beirut for ;^i,ooo. They arrived on Sunday morning. I preached at the college in Arabic that morning at nine o'clock and just as the last bell was ringing for the service, and Dr. Bliss and I were entering the chapel door, the carriage drove by with Dr. and Mrs. Angell, and the kavass of the United States consul on the box. We bade them welcome. I recalled the time when, at Dr. Angell's invitation, I addressed the students at Ann Arbor University. He was in excellent health and spirits. We found that Dr. and Mrs. Angell and their party were booked for Baalbec and Damascus the next morning, Monday, and must return and sail for Constantinople on Saturday. At 3 : 30 p. M, after seeing other parts of the work he came to the Arabic Sunday-school, accompanied by the United States consul and his kavasses, and made a brief address to the 250 children urging them to the study of God's word and to trust in Christ as their Saviour. It was delightful to hear his testimony to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On Sunday evening Dr. Angell made an address to the college students on " Intellectual, Moral, and Spiritual Culture" which was a most impressive and beautiful address and will never be forgotten by those who heard it, I took careful notes and on Monday translated it all into Arabic, On Friday it was published in our weekly Neshrah and I had half a dozen copies struck off in 644 Marking Time gilt letters which I presented to him on Friday evening, when Mrs. Bliss gave a reception to all the American community for Dr. and Mrs. Angell. On Saturday morning before leaving on the French steamer for Constantinople, he visited the press and went through all its de- partments and I then went down with him to the wharf. His visit was brief but he manifested the deepest interest in all de- partments of the work. We said little to him about the United States claims against Turkey for indemnity for losses during the massacres. His hands are tied by the diversion of our government's attention to Spain and Cuba. England can carry on half a dozen wars in different parts of the world and grapple with the knottiest diplomatic ques- tions all at one and the same time. Our government, with its frequent changes of administration and diplomatic officials, seems to be able to deal with only one question at a time. Dr. Angell evidently accepted this post at great sacrifice, in order to do what others had failed to do, and now finds himself unsupported. (Mr. McKinley evidently needs a Secretary of State able to deal with foreign questions with promptness and vigour.) President Angell was succeeded by the Hon. Oscar Straus of New York whose great ability, loyal devotion to his country's honour, and conscientious attention to business gave him the confidence of his countrymen and great influence with the Sultan and his ministers. Our consul, Colonel Doyle, was now removed and in his place President McKinley appointed Mr. G. Bie Ravendal who has proved himself an efficient business man and a loyal American in full sympathy with the work done by his fellow citizens in Syria. This consulate, having become in 1906 a consulate-general, will now have greater influence and do better work for American com- mercial interests in the East. In April, Mr. A. Forder, an independent missionary, attempted to penetrate Arabia from the north by the way of Bashan and Foolish as Doves 645 Moab. He secured seven hundred Arabic New Testaments from our press and had them bound in special red morocco binding, 'with broad flaps, in imitation of the Arab binding in Cairo and Damascus. The box was sent to Damascus and he set out from Jerusalem with his cameleers, intending to pick up the box in or near Damascus, so as not to give the Turks an idea that he was a military spy or correspondent, but unhappily he fell from his camel near Nablus and broke his leg. In May he was still de- tained there with his Danish companion until it was too late to undertake the trip that year. On a previous trip he was robbed so often that one wonders what he had left to live on in a region where, for two days, he found neither food nor water. No one could question his courage and pluck and some day Christian men may get into Central Arabia. But the new Mecca railroad, and the jealousy of all European influence in that great peninsula, will make it difficult for any one hereafter to enter Arabia from the north or west. The vulnerable sides are the east and south, and for the reason that where the spirit of British rule prevails there is liberty. And yet, there was once a foreign young woman of comely appearance, who seriously proposed making a trip to Arabia by that robber-infested route where every man claims the ancestral right to rob every stranger he meets, taking with her only a woman attendant and a cameleer. It was with great diffi- culty that we dissuaded her. Had she tried to do it, we should have felt called upon to ask the interposition of the consul. It is a pity that deep piety and personal loveliness should sometimes be hnked to an utter want of common sense. Faith sometimes becomes spasmodic with high nervous exaltation. It then be- comes unreasoning, harmful as serpents, and foolish as doves. Believing itself inspired, it will take no advice and will sacrifice all the capacity for usefulness attained by long years of prepara- tion, study and spiritual equipment for the sake of making one grand leap into certain destruction with no possible thought of any corresponding or compensating good. I have often said to one of these " inspired " friends, " Be careful, protect your head from the sun ; if you take that journey, take at least some proper 646 Marking Time food and clothing." " Thank you," they would say, " we do not need these worldly wise precautions for we can trust in the Lord who has called us." So away they went. Not long after there was a funeral — a life thrown away that might have been a bless- ing to many. It only made others say, •' What a fool not to take advice ! " Dr. S. H. Cox, of Brooklyn, was told by a ranting Mormon apostle, " God does not need your learning ! " He replied, " God does not need your ignorance ! " The news of war with Spain made a great stir in this land. The Moslems and Jews could not say enough in praise of America. They recalled the days of Ferdinand and Isabella, when Moslem power was crushed in Spain and when hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled from Spain and found refuge in North Africa, Constantinople, Salonica, Smyrna, and Aleppo, And in the year 1906, the Jews are rejoicing that a granddaughter of a Jew has become Queen of Spain.^ I recalled April, 1861, when we heard of the firing on Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War, when we all felt like going home to defend the flag. The Cuban War was a smaller matter and we had no fear of the result, but we apprehended financial disorder and the crippling of the Board's resources. Happily the war was brief and the only effect from a mission- ary standpoint was opening the millions of Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines to the enlightenment of Protestant Chris- tianity. On March 17th my very dear friend and classmate. Dr. Charles S. Robinson, of New York, arrived on the Alter. The ship only remained twelve hours. I went on board in a rough sea and a pouring rain to bring him ashore. It seems to us residents in Syria a great shame that tourists in the Holy Land should be " hustled " through in such a hurry that they can only gain the most superficial idea of the land and its people. ^ We may add that in 1907, the Jews were again glad to hear that a Jew had been elected mayor of Rome. A Presbytery Meeting 647 On May 2d the Lebanon Presbytery met in Beirut ; eight churches were represented by fifteen Syrian and seven American members. Nine subjects were discussed and it was the most thoroughly spiritual assembly we have ever known in Syria. A report was given by Dr. S. Jessup of the religious conference in February conducted by Dr. Elder Gumming and Rev. Messrs. Luce and Paynter, and one of the Syrian brethren gave an ac- count of his visit to Mildmay and Keswick and the new appre- hension he gained of the spiritual life. Meetings were held with the children, a social gathering for the local congregation, and a joint communion season. It was altogether a model meeting of presbytery, a minimum of ecclesiastical routine and a maximum of uplifting spiritual conference on religious and missionary sub- jects. In May, our able and accomplished consul-general, Charles M. Dickinson, of Constantinople, visited Syria and Palestine and presented an elaborate report to the government at Washington of the so-called Spaffordite colony in Jerusalem. Any persons desirous of knowing the facts with regard to that phase of relig- ious communism should consult the documents in the State Department. Two somewhat remarkable Christian women passed away in the months of February and May, Mrs. Giles Montgomery, formerly of Central Turkey, and Mrs. Hannah Korany, a Syrian lady from Kefr Shima, near Beirut. Mrs. Montgomery came out with her husband in 1863 and laboured for thirty-five years in Marash and Adana. She was a woman of rare Christian char- acter, one of those bright, radiant spirits who make the Christian life so attractive. She had long struggled with that fell disease, consumption, and was the guest and patient of Dr. and Mrs. Graham, who felt it a benediction to have her in their home. It was touching to see a little Armenian girl laying white flowers on her grave — she was baptized by Mr. Montgomery and narrowly escaped being carried ofTby the Turks during the massacres and 648 Marking Time came here to our seminary as a refuge. Mrs. Montgomery was a missionary of the American Board, which supported the Syrian Mission until 1870, and four former missionaries of that Board, Dr. W. W. Eddy, Dr. Daniel Bliss, Rev. W. Bird, and Rev. H. H. Jessup conducted the funeral services. Mrs, Korany was educated, as was her mother before her, in the Beirut Girls' Seminary, and, after teaching for a time, went with her husband to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and re- mained in America several years, engaged in the sale of Syrian fabrics and in lecturing on Syrian themes by invitation of a so- ciety of American ladies. The American climate prostrated her and she was obliged to flee to milder climes, struggling like Mrs. Montgomery with consumption. I met her at Cairo and Helouan in the winter of 1 896-1897. Her mind seemed to grow brighter as her body grew weaker under the relentless progress of the dis- ease. She had fine conversational powers and wrote English with great facility and force. At length she returned to her home, six miles from Beirut, where a loving father and mother watched over her. But such is the dread of the Syrian people of this malady that no one would come near the house. No woman would do washing or baking or any service for the family. The American ladies, her former teachers, and Miss C. Thompson of the British Syrian Mission were frequent in their visits and I was greatly comforted to hear her words of faith and hope as I sat by her dying bed. She died May 6th, and the funeral was an impressive scene. It is the custom in Lebanon villages for the women to give them- selves up to fanatical grief, wailing, screaming, and often throw- ing themselves upon the body and trying to prevent its removal. But in this Christian home there was perfect silence, the mother, Im Selim, showing a Christian resignation and quiet self-control which filled the village women with astonishment. It was an ob- ject-lesson which they will not soon forget. About that time a remarkable conversion took place in the Syrian Protestant College. A Jewish student, son of a prosper- Well-Meant Counsel 649 ous Hebrew family, declared himself a Christian and began at once the most earnest and intense labours for the conversion of all his fellow students. He walked with them, talked with them, and prayed with them and spoke in the college prayer-meetings and in the church meetings in town. He was most fearless and resolute in trying to bring all around him to Christ. His friends were dismayed and his father threatened to disinherit him. He applied for baptism and communion in the Arabic Evangelical Church and a day was appointed to receive him. But he disap- peared suddenly — we heard of him afterwards in Port Said and later as marching in the Salvation Army procession in London. I have known several similar cases of sudden religious enthu- siasm, great promise for usefulness, which have afterwards with- ered away, not having depth of root or stability. Yet this young man may have found his proper sphere in the Salvation Army. Our good secretary, Dr. Brown, was convinced that the mis- sionaries should do more itinerating work, and administered a gentle rebuke to the tendency among our number to yield to the ^r claims of confining literary and educational work. As usual, the appeal wrought most powerfully upon those least able to respond to it. We all felt, even those of us tied down to one place by teaching and literary work, that more should be done to reach the outlying districts and to lead to a personal decision the hundreds of youths in our schools. One member of the mission, my good brother Samuel, of Sidon, was so wrought upon by the stirring appeal that he nearly sacrificed his life. He is never perfectly well, and hardly a week has passed in his thirty-five years of service in Syria but he has had turns of severe pain and prostra- tion. The mission removed him from the " horseback " station of Tripoli to Beirut in 1882 to reheve him from the wear and tear of long journeys in the interior. And he removed to Sidon to engage in quiet educational work and the management of the station treasury. But that appeal was like fire in his bones. The latter part of May, true to his centrifugal instincts, he rose from his bed, hired a horse, and with his boy riding a mule with the 650 Marking Time bedding and a few cooking utensils, rode down the coast to Tyre and the next day to Bussah, east of Acre, wracked with head- ache. Preaching there and working among the crowds who gathered, he went on east over a frightful breakneck road to Dibl, where he had dreadful pains and sinking turns. Miles away from a doctor, he lay a whole day on the floor, faint, and rolling from pain and nausea, his host, a kind, elderly man, doing his best to help, but unable to relieve him. The next day he rode on horseback six hours to Tyre, almost falling from his saddle many times. On reaching Tyre, he could not walk to the Syrian pas- tor's house and fell prostrate. The next morning he rose at six and rode six and a half hours to Sidon. He now writes that he must " do more itinerating." He says the Cuban War reminds him of 1861-1862, when he was ill of typhoid fever at Drains- ville, and then went through McClellan's Potomac Campaign end- ing at Malvern Hills. And now like a veteran cavalry horse at pasture, the bugle call sets him all on fire. If it be true that some of the best of men need urging, others, as truly, need restraining. It is my experience that most missionaries work up to the full extent of their ability and opportunity. When men get " views " about sitting still to see the salvation of the Lord, they need stir- ring up. I was once told the following story of Mr. Moody : Young George Barnes, the Kentucky evangelist, whose words were burning and inspiring, fell into that trap. Mr. Moody left him in Chicago to carry on the work. On his return, he could not find George. After inquiry, he was told, " Oh, he has joined the little circle of ites, who are sitting down to await the com- ing of the Lord." Mr. Moody rushed to him and taking him by the collar, said, " George, out of this. The Lord calls you to go work in His vineyard. Out of this, or you are ruined." Mr. Moody was right. What became of George I do not know, but an able-bodied evangelist can make no greater mistake than " to sit down and wait " for something to turn up. At the request of Consul Ravendal I prepared in July the follow- ing statistics of the Americans, their schools and property in Syria : American Interests in Syria 651 Number of Americans, old and young . Number of American schools Value of mission property in Beirut . . . " " " " " Lebanon field « (< «< it n Sidon " » S2 til ■ 03 ^ o '- 3 7^ O ^ ^ m M X a cs o >. CQ « CP ^ n ^ q5 X a j3 u Ph s z ^^ <: CS CI (■/; ^ g &H s^ u ^i" cu o M a H ::: o O -C Ml ■57.S 3 _ 'o .(j fi i=i cd kl ^ ^ ^ JS o Si o O i r-i The Lebanon Rhinoceros 749 His father ran, and the child pointed down between his feet, and said, " See ! " " What ? " said his father. " A rhinoceros ! " an- swered the lad and burst into laughter. The Zahleh and Lebanon Presbytery met in Zahleh September 6th, and about twenty members were in attendance. The prog- ress made by these organizations composed of Syrian pastors and elders and American missionaries is encouraging and hopeful for the future. We foreigners are corresponding members, and business is transacted in good order and harmony, giving promise of the time when the evangelical church of Syria shall become self-supporting and self-propagating. What form of polity will be eventually adopted by these churches is a secondary matter. As long as they are dependent on foreign funds they will natu- rally submit to foreign advice, but when they walk alone and sup- port their own pastors and schools, they will be at liberty to select that form of church government which suits their tastes and preference. In 1901, a Shechemite swindler of the first water, named Kerreh, a native of Nablus, went to England to raise money for his leper asylum at Tirzah, near Nablus, He represented in his long printed programme that he had a leper asylum with 1,100 patients, extensive buildings, staff, plant, grounds, etc, and he wanted to raise ;^io a head for each of his 1,100. He deceived a few persons, when his fraud was detected, and he was arrested. The English judge sent a commissioner, Mr. Francis C. Brading, then travelling in Syria, to investigate. He found at Tirzah an abject village, but no leper, no asylum, and nothing had ever been heard there of Kerreh and his swindling scheme. He was then convicted and sent to prison. After serving out his time, he crossed the sea and applied to Mr. H. H. Hall, of Orange, N. Y., for aid for his 1,100 lepers. Mr. Hall wisely inquired through a friend, whose son was in Syria, and obtained the above facts. The man was then headed off, but he will no doubt palm off his monstrous swindle in other parts of America where he has not been exposed. 750 My Latest Furlough The gullibility of good people is amazing. If all who are asked to help such wildcat schemes would demand credentials and certificates from responsible persons, they would not throw away their money. On returning home, September loth, we were shocked by the cold-blooded and unprovoked murder of a beloved and talented young man of Suk el Gharb, a student in the college and a mem- ber of a prominent Protestant family in this part of Lebanon. He was stabbed to death just at sunset within a quarter of a mile of his home by two Druse miscreants. The funeral the next day was largely attended and the mudir was present with his soldiers to prevent disturbance, as some of the less educated relatives of the deceased were ready to revenge his death on any Druse who should appear in the village. We conducted the funeral services at the house in the open air, as a noisy crowd of distant relatives and outsiders declared that, according to their traditional customs, to consent to have the funeral in the church would be to admit that they had no further claim for the punishment of the mur- derers. The father said he would prefer to have it in the church but the crowd overruled him. The self-control of the father, the brothers, and sister in that tumultuous wailing and shrieking crowd, was a beautiful testi- mony to the sustaining power of Christian faith. Two years passed and no punishment had been inflicted on the assassins, though legally convicted of murder in the first degree. September 27th Mrs. Gerald F. Dale, for twenty-five years connected with the mission, tendered her resignation to take the superintendence of the new Maria Dewitt Jesup hospital for women and children and the training-school for nurses. The mission only acceded to this request on the ground that the truly benevolent and self-denying work which she was about to under- take was in every sense a missionary work and an important branch of the great work being done for the benefit of the Syrian people. Resigning American Citizenship 751 On the 14th of October the people of Lebanan saw a brilliant meteoric shower which lasted not less than fifteen minutes, October 31st word was received that the model of the Syrian Protestant College had received a gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition. It was deposited in the college. I afterwards heard that the medal was voted, but, with many others, might be given only on paper. When it came it proved to be bronze. In November, United States Consul Ravendal received a letter from Vice-Consul Shumacher of Haifa, well known as an explorer and archaeologist, resigning his office and also stating that he had given up his American citizenship and become a German subject, for the reason that, as an American, he could get no rights and secure no concessions for archaeological excavation and explora- tion, whereas a German subject can get any concession that is desired. Dr. Shumacher's statement is no doubt true. The German emperor, for reasons too palpable to need explanation, has become the backer and friend of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II. German railway concessions are necessary to promote German commerce, and for these benefits the Emperor William will stand by the Sultan, who, as a matter of wisdom, will grant the emperor and his subjects privileges allowed to none others. As Mr. Shu- macher has large experience in Palestine exploration, and is a permanent resident in Haifa, he naturally prefers the government which can most successfully promote his interests. December 27th — To-day the contract was signed for the pur- chase of the so-called Misk property adjoining the American Mission premises in Beirut. For sixteen years we had been try- ing to secure this valuable property, the funds for which had been given by the late Col. Elliot F. Shepard of New York. The Arabic proverb " man sabar zafar," " who waits wins," was proved true in this case. Colonel Shepard gave the fund to buy the property and it was carefully invested in America. He author- ized the use of the interest for supplying a residence for the native 7_5'2 My Latest Furlough Syrian pastor, and aiding, when needed, in his support, until the purchase should be effected. On completing the purchase, which was done by Dr. Hoskins, after meeting with the various depart- ments and officials of the local courts for three months, the work of demolition and reconstruction was commenced, and the mis- sion premises converted into a convenient campus, containing the church, press, Sunday-school hall, theological school, manse, girls' boarding-school, and cemetery, with two mission residences (the Pharaun and Kekano houses) and open spaces covered with shade trees and orange and lemon orchards. This valuable property belongs to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. The Kekano house was purchased in 1889 with funds given chiefly by Morris K. Jesup, Esq., John Stewart Kennedy, and Robert Lenox Kennedy. The Pharaun house was bought with a portion of the theological seminary funds in the hands of the Board of Foreign Missions. The year has been one of steady progress. The 1 1 1 schools have instructed 6,353 pupils. The college has had 750 students, more than ever before, and its corps of instructors numbers sixty- two. One hundred and forty-three were added to the churches on profession of faith and the congregations average 5.534- The press printed 34,577,543 pages, of which 24,727,000 were Arabic Scriptures for the American Bible Society. The total number of pages printed since 1834 has been 760,089,034. XXIX Jubilee Times (i 905-1 907) THE year 1905 was memorable as the banner year for Bible printing in the history of the American Press. Nearly sixty millions of pages were printed, of which 47,275,000 were for the American Bible Society. The number of copies of the Scriptures issued during the year was 158,000, a larger number than ever before. The demand for Arabic Scriptures from Egypt was unprece- dented. Our workmen put in extra time, and paper and binding materials had to be ordered in large quantities from Europe to meet the demand. A new printing machine had just been added to our plant to increase our facilities for Bible work. Just at this juncture the old steam engine gave signs of failing, and to avoid the catastrophe of having all our presses stopped, I wrote to Mr. Marcellus Hartley Dodge of New York, son of my old friend, Norman White Dodge, and he, with a promptness which filled our whole mission with a thrill of gratitude, replied by sending out a magnificent thirty horse-power Fairbanks Morse oil engine. The iron castings and balance-wheel of this splendid engine were so massive that Mr. Freyer had to hire the steam derrick of the Harbor Company to lift them to the wharf and from the wharf to the truck. And when they reached the churchyard adjoining the press, it required many men and many days' work to remove them to the engine house of the press. In May a conference of Christian workers was held in Constan- tinople and we were all invited to be present, but owing to the May meeting of our mission coming at the same time, we had to decline. But at the request of Dr. J. K. Greene, I wrote a few words on " Hindrances to the Christian Life Among Mission- aries." 753 754 Jubilee Times 1. We are apt to feel that we have already attained. Deem- ing that we are in a higher spiritual plane than those around us, we compare ourselves with others and are led to self-satisfaction and indolence. 2. Officialism. Because we are preachers and teachers, we are in danger of thinking that we need only to give out, and not to take in. 3. Extreme liberalism. Inclining us to believe that the life- less systems around us are good enough, and that we need not seek the conversion of their adherents. This blunts the edge of zeal and lessens the value of experimental religion. I yield to none in broad sympathy for those brought up in the non-Christian and semi-Christian faiths, but unless we have something that they have not, and unless Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of sinners, we have absolutely no vocation in Western Asia and European Turkey. 4. Yielding to the spiritual stagnation round us. 5. Neglect of personal rehgious duties. As to the remedy, I can only suggest: 1. Constant personal use of the " Word of God." 2. Personal work for the salvation of others. 3. Never forgetting that " the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." " And in none other is there salvation ; for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men, wherein we must be saved " (Acts 4 : 12), This conference was conducted by Rev. John McNeil of London and was an inspiring and uplifting occasion. It is, alas, too often true, that we who are labouring in heathen and Mohammedan lands and are regarded by many as the most spiritual of all Christian workers feel our need of those special oc- casions for the promotion of the spiritual life which are so com- mon in Christian lands, in Keswick, Northfield, Chautauqua, Wi- nona, and the Northwest. We have many benumbing and paralyzing influences to contend with. Familiarity with a Mos- lem population makes us forget their spiritual deadness. We see §p many forms, rites, ceremonies, and pilgrimages and so much Keeping Spiritually Alive 755 virtue attached to mere outward works, that we need to live in a Bible atmosphere and in a spirit of constant prayer to keep our garments white and our faith bright and clear. We need to draw our theology from the Bible and not from mere reason and hy- pothesis. Mere ethics will save nobody. " If righteousness is through the law then Christ died for nought " (Gal. 2:21). Christ is an example — our brightest, best, and perfect example, but He is more. He is a Saviour, a Redeemer from sin, its power, and penalty. His blood was " shed for many for the remission of sins." There has been a powerful work of grace in St. Paul's Institute, Tarsus, and a number of conversions recently in Gerard Institute, Sidon. Six young girls in the British Syrian Institute in Beirut were received into the church. In March Rev. Drs. Stewart and Lowe of the Irish Presby- terian Jewish Missions Committee visited their Damascus Mission and on their return proposed to transfer their two Mount Hermon stations, Rasheiyat el Wady and Ain esh Shaara, to our mission, if their General Assembly should approve. It did approve, and in the fall Rev. W. K. Eddy of Sidon was instructed to take measures to assume the work at those stations, but the expense, about ^^700 a year, for which our Board felt unable to provide, delayed the full support of the work there. Had these little Prot- estant communities the spirit of the Korean converts they would carry on the work without foreign aid. During the summer I visited Suk, Abeih, Zahleh, and Baalbec, preaching in Arabic in these places and when at home in our own summer cottage in Aleih, I always preached in Arabic. I had planned going from Baalbec to Hums with my brother Samuel September 9th, but was prevented by illness. He went alone by the Aleppo Railroad leaving Baalbec Saturday at 2 p. m., and enjoyed meeting that interesting church and preaching once more to the people. They have shown great energy in opening a boys' boarding-school at their own expense but have not yet fulfilled the more important duty of supporting their own pastor. While in Zahleh vye drove down to the plain to visit the 7^6 Jubilee Times famous Jesuit farm of Taanaille. It is on the Damascus Road and covers about half a mile square, on rich land, through which runs a splendid stream of water from the Jedetha fountain. It is a model French farm, with wheat fields, clover pasturage, shaded walks and drives, and fine orchards of European fruits, and vege- table and flower gardens. The father superintendent who spoke English perfectly was most courteous and showed us all the de- partments. An immense American threshing-machine was just being brought in, having been imported and transported over to Anjar, four miles to the east, for Tahir Pasha of Damascus, who refused to accept it and pending a lawsuit to compel him to ful- fill his contract, it was being stored by the French Jesuit " fathers." This French farm looks more like Europe and America than anything I have seen in Syria. It shows what might be done everywhere with proper care and cultivation. In June we sent to New York by order of the American Tract Society ^325 worth of Arabic books and tracts to be distributed by the American Tract Society among Syrian immigrants land- ing in New York. We have frequently supplied outgoing emigrants from Syria with Arabic Scriptures and they have al- most without exception received them with gratitude. Many of these Arab emigrants will become American citizens, and it is a remarkable providence that the American Press and schools in Syria have been used to fit men and women to become Ameri- can citizens. It is well to. sow good seed abroad. Who knows when the fruit will come back to be a blessing to the sowers ! The best Syrian emigrants to America are those who have been trained in the American Mission schools. Westward the Star of Syria takes its way ! ^ In October we were favoured with a visit from Rev. Dr. H Howard Agnew Johnston, wife and daughter. An itinerary had been prepared and he was able to visit all our principal stations, speaking everywhere words stimulating and inspiring on the sub- ject of " individual work for individuals," He spoke in the Beirut College and to the young people in the city, and gave an hour to Howard Agnew Johnston 757 the theological class. The unity of his theme, his great experi- ence in personal religious work and his sententious summing up of Christian duty, as " not merely to be fed, but to feed, not merely to be led but to lead, not simply to be saved but to save others," gave his addresses great power. He spoke to the theological class of the value of an individual acquaintance with the contents and teaching of each book of the Bible. I remarked that one of the three native brethren who had been ordained the evening before had a wonderful knowledge of the Bible. Dr. Johnston then asked the class to give him the contents of John, chapter six. Just then M, Michaiel, the per- son I had quoted, entered the room. Hearing Dr. Johnston's request, he quietly arose and gave a complete synopsis of that chapter to the minutest detail. It was an object-lesson to the class such as few could give. Dr. Johnston spoke fifteen times in Beirut, besides visiting Zahleh, Hums, Tripoli, Suk, and Sidon. The ordination of three tried and experienced native preachers. Rev. Beshara Barudi, Rev. Michaiel Ibrahim, and Rev. Yusef Jerjer, took place October 24th, while Dr. Johnston was here, and the hands of seventeen ministers, American, Scotch, and Syrian, were laid on their heads. On the 31st of October I sat by the dying bed of a lovely young Protestant, Amin Tabet, who died in the prison ward of the municipal hospital of Beirut. He had been to America to visit his father and returned a short time before, dangerously ill. The custom-house detective in examining his baggage found a book in which was a picture of the Sultan and written under it the word " dog." The young man, a very model of integrity and uprightness, stated that he knew nothing of the book, that some friends had put a lot of books and papers in his trunk for him to read on the voyage but he had been too ill to look at them and that he could never have been foolish enough to carry such a book had he known of it. The zealous pohce, anxious to gain favour and promotion, telegraphed their discovery to Con- stantinople and he was thrown into the lowest prison. His many Beirut friends interceded, and by order of the government physi- yj'S Jubilee Times cian he was removed to the iron-grated ward in the hospital. But it was vain to ask for his release. Even when the physicians pronounced him a dying man, his mother was not allowed to re- move him. I had baptized him in infancy, and found him ready to depart and be with Christ, and in that Turkish prison, sur- rounded by Moslem attendants and patients, I commended him to Christ as his Saviour. He soon after passed away, and his emaciated body was taken to his mother's house where the fu- neral service took place, attended by a great throng. His brothers, tutors in the college, were comforted by a large delegation of students bearing wreaths and flowers. The leading authorities declared their conviction that he was innocent and had been victimized by some designing person, but not one of the officials ventured to utter openly a word in his favour, lest they be reported to headquarters. Would that this were the only case of the kind ! He was a victim of the cruel despotic rule of Abdul Hamid and Izzet Pasha. On the 1 8th of December I acknowledged Dr. A. J. Brown's letter speaking of the approaching jubilee of Dr. and Mrs. Bliss and myself. I replied in part as follows : " I should prefer that no special notice be taken of one of the Lord's servants having been permitted to keep at work for fifty years. I ought to be grateful. It has always been my principle that the missionary work is a life enlistment, and I am more than ever convinced that it is a^true one. No one can be more grateful than I am for the blessed privilege of being able to hold on." During December the annual meeting of our mission was held. It was a hopeful, inspiring season. We had printed more pages of the Arabic Scriptures and taught in our schools more children and youth than ever before, when Dr. Bowen, agent of the American Bible Society, wrote from Constantinople ordering Mr. Freyer to countermand a big order for paper and cut down at once all expenditure on account of the Bible Society. We were taken aback, like a ship under full sail, with the wind suddenly veering from stern to stem and forcing the sails back against the masts. The appropriation, under financial stress and distress at They Shall Still Bring Forth Fruit 759 the Bible House, New York, was cut down to a destructive figure. I was stirred so deeply that when our mission met, December 7th, I offered to write the annual letter to the Bible Society. This offer was met with applause, as a welcome innovation. The office of writing the annual letters to the Bible and Tract and other societies is never sought for, as it involves no little out- lay of time and labour. The letter was written under a sense of being divinely moved, such as I have not often felt. It was sent and scattered abroad through a hundred newspapers and some months after, Dr. Bowen writes, <* That letter brought into the treasury of the Society not less than ;$ 150,000. One donor gave a piece of property which will give ;$7,S00 annually for Bible work in Mohammedan lands." I can see now that the prompt- ing to write that letter came from above, and all the praise be- longs to the Lord of the Bible who is the God of missions. It did seem strange that just as the door is opening in Moslem lands for the Arabic Bible, and the machinery is ready to print and publish it, we should be obliged to say to Asia and Africa, " No, America is too poor. You must wait still longer for the Bread of Life. The Beirut Press stands committed before the Christian world to supply the demand for Arabic Scriptures, and in Bible work this press is the agent and servant of the American Bible Society." We have been saying to Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia, Tunis and Algiers, Mesopotamia, and Bussorah, " Call, and we will answer ; call for the Scriptures and we will supply them." And now are we to say to these missionaries : " You will have to wait. Tell the Moslems, just beginning to ask for God's word, that they cannot have it; — that the great Church of America has too much to do to think of 60,000,000 of Arabic-speaking people, and 140,000,000 more of Moslems whose Koran is Arabic " ? Will the Christian Church give the ^^9,000 a year needed to keep up the Bible work and manufacture to an extent sufficient for the demand ? Shall foreign missionaries from England, Scotland, Ireland, 760 Jubilee Times Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Scandinavia, who have de- pended upon us for their Arabic Scriptures, be obliged to write to their home societies that the American Bible Press in Beirut, which holds the key to the Arabic Bible, has finally admitted its inability to supply the increasing demands upon it? We call upon the Bible-loving Church of Christ to come to your aid and ours. In November Rev. James H. Nicol and wife arrived from America for the Tripoli station. Early in the year, January 2, 1906, Dr. Mary Pierson Eddy and Miss Caroline M. Holmes arrived from America, the former to resume her medical work, and the latter to labour in the same region, on the coast north of Beirut. Miss Holmes was for ten years connected with the Tripoli Girls' Boarding-School (from 1883 to 1887 and from 1888 to 1894), and had been absent from Syria eleven years. She now returned under the auspices of a number of American friends who pledged her support for a term of years. After working with Dr. Mary P. Eddy in M'aamiltein for some months, she re- moved to Jebail (the Gebal of the Bible), half-way between Beirut and TripoH, and has succeeded in overcoming prejudice until she has a school of seventy-five girls. She has begun work as a pioneer in one of the most bigoted regions in Syria. I cannot but admire the pluck and courage of these two Chris- tian women. The Board supports Dr. Mary P. Eddy. Miss Holmes with her fine knowledge of Arabic, her splendid capacity for organization, and devoted spirit should have abundant sup- port. In November Rev. Paul Erdman, Mrs. Gertrude Erdman, and son Frederick arrived from America to take up their residence in Tripoli. In October Sheikh Nebhany, Kadi of Beirut, issued a pamphlet, attacking Christian schools and all Moslems who patronize them. His language was bitter and coarse, full of invective and rant, and to the astonishment of the public it had the sanction of the Ministry of Public Instruction in Constantinople. The better class of Moslems repudiated the book and denounced the author. My Fiftieth Anniversary 761 Several learned sheikhs of Beirut, Damascus and Cairo pubHshed replies to his book, rebuking him severely for his ignorance of history and his narrow intolerance. It not only failed to compel Moslems to take their children out of Christian schools, but it resulted in a large increase in the number of Moslem students in Christian schools, especially in the Beirut College. This result is but another proof of the growing independence among intelHgent Moslems of their fanatical religious leaders. The jubilee year, my fiftieth in Syria, was celebrated by many friends, Syrian and foreign. Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Bliss and I arrived in Syria February 7, 1856, and on and before February 7th congratulatory letters, cablegrams, and messages came in upon me like a flood. About sunrise a company of Syrian girls from the British Syrian Insti- tution came quietly in and sang sweet hymns of cheer. Our house was decorated with white almond blossoms, which have been for fifty years a reminder of the day of our landing in 1856, when the almond trees were in bloom. And these little girls each brought a spray of the sweet blossoms and gave them to me as a floral offering. At half-past nine came all the members of the Syria Mission, men and women, and made addresses which quite overcame me with their expressions of fraternal affection. They then presented me with a massive cathedral chiming clock in a case of polished English oak with an inscripton on a gilt brass plate. Then came a deputation of the Syrian Protestant sect, eight in number, each of whom made an eloquent Arabic address, in prose or poetry, the substance of which is too personal to allow its being repeated by me. The most of them and their families were my spiritual children, and their language, though full of Oriental hyperbole, was most kind and sincere. They left with me as souvenirs elegant specimens of silver filigree work on a little inlaid table of Damascene work. A little Syrian boy gave me some rare specimens of Phoenician iridescent glass. At one o'clock eighteen of our kindred and those of Dr. and 762 Jubilee Times Mrs. Bliss sat down to dinner together, the Httle grandchildren being at a side table. At 3 p. M. we were taken to the Gerald F. Dale Memorial Sunday-School Hall, which was densely packed with a crowd of people who were awaiting us. This was a complete surprise. The hall was decorated with flags, evergreens, and flowers, and prominent among them the almond blossoms. The girls of our seminary and of the British Syrian Institution were dressed in holiday attire, and sang as Dr. and Mrs. Bliss, Mrs. Jessup, and myself entered the hall. There was a full musical programme and then the entire assembly of five hundred came up to take us by the hand, wishing us a joyful jubilee. The ladies of the mis- sion then presented to Mrs. Jessup a pyramidal frosted loaf of cake which she cut, and Mrs. Hoskins and her sister, Dr. Mary Eddy, gave out portions to missionary friends. At half-past seven, a beautiful moonlight evening, the church was crowded for the memorial jubilee service. Addresses were made in Arabic by two prominent Protestant Arabic scholars, Messrs. Selim Kessab and Ibrahim Haurani, in German by Pastor Fritz Ulrich, and in English by Dr. George E. Post and Dr. George A. Ford, the latter in poetry. Thus closed the jubilee day — a day full of sacred memories, of many regrets and much thanksgiving to God. The love and esteem of so many of Christ's children, Ameri- can, Syrian, and European, is inexpressibly precious. May every one of these dear friends live to celebrate their own jubilee ! 1906 — January was a month of storms, of much sickness, and snoWo The Damascus railway was repeatedly blocked with snow, and the winter rains were constant with frequent electric storms of thunder and lightning. Miss Van Zandt of the Woman's Hos- pital had a long and severe illness with typhoid fever. Pneu- monia, pleurisy, and typhoid fever prevailed throughout the land. My son William wrote from Zahleh of icicles ten feet long and a foot thick. On January 7th, at 4 p. m., Miss Jessie Taylor entered into Jessie Taylor and Her Work 763 rest, aged seventy-nine, after forty years of self-denying labour for the Moslem and Druse girls and women of Syria. Her death produced wide-spread and unfeigned sorrow among the multitudes of Moslem women and girls whom she had in- structed and befriended. No foreign woman ever had such a hold on the confidence of the Moslems of Beirut, and this, al- though she was a fearless witness for salvation through Christ alone. Moslem men would come to a preaching service in her house when nothing would have induced them to enter a Chris- tian church. Miss Jessie Taylor was " one called of God." She heeded the call and came to this land alone, and began her work among the lowly and neglected. I well remember her first arrival and have followed her course with sympathy and prayer ever since. Like good Mr. Cullen in Edinburgh, she belonged to all the churches and all Christian people. Her home was a house of prayer. I know of no house in Syria where prayer seemed more natural and appropriate, and certainly there was no house where Mos- lem, Druse, and Jew and Maronite and Protestant felt more wel- come and more at home. Without an effort on her part, and by the simple power of an unselfish, sincere and blameless life, she secured and held the confidence of her non-Christian neighbours to an extent which was remarkable. And how many perils escaped, difficulties overcome, burdens lifted, and spiritual fruits gathered as a direct and comforting an- swer to prayer ! Here was the source of her strength, which kept up that frail body to a great age ; made her invariably cheerful and hopeful ; helped her to look always on the bright side, " bright as the promise of God," and made her the spiritual guide to the new life in Christ, of so many of her pupils. She believed in conversion, in passing from death into life, and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. At times she needed great courage and decision, and was never left to lack either in times of emergency. Her solitary journey to Scotland, when over seventy years of 764 Jubilee Times age in order to save her old mission home from sale, was an illus- tration of her simple faith and unflagging energy. Her friends in Scotland, when appealed to personally, said, " In these days of Boer War and financial embarrassment it is not possible to raise ^1,100." She replied, " The silver and the gold are the Lord's and the fund must be raised," and it was raised and amounted to ^1,500, sufficient to buy the house and make all needed repairs. She returned to Syria looking ten years younger, her face beaming with hope and energy, and resumed her work with new buoyancy and faith. And she had impressed those qualities upon her fellow workers and pupils, and we believe that they will go forward, trustful and hopeful as she has been. She called her school " St. George's School for Moslem and Druse Girls," but the Syrians and the foreign community know it and speak of it as Miss Taylor's school and there can be no comparison between the solid spir- itual work done by her, and the shadowy exploits of the mythical St. George. March 7th Beirut was honoured by a visit from Admiral Sigs- bee of the American Navy with the ships Brooklyn, Galveston, and Chattanooga. Consul-General Bergholz gave them a recep- tion which was attended by the American and European com- munities. It has been my experience for fifty years that there is no finer class of men anywhere than the officers of the American Navy. And as a rule they fully appreciate the educational and elevating work done by their missionary fellow countrymen. Much depends on the man, whether they show hearty sympathy with the more spiritual aspect of our work. I knew a naval com- mander who would hold prayer-meetings with the men in the cockpit, though his officers held aloof and scarcely concealed their disgust. He was deeply interested in the evangelistic work of our mission. The majority of naval officers respect religion and respect manliness and manly work, but they generally appre- ciate educational, publishing, and what is called civilizing work more than the purely religious. An address to the college stu- dents by an American admiral is always impressive. One can Our Fine Naval Officers 765 hardly conceive of such an address by a Turkish admiral. Our government does well to give its citizens abroad an occasional glimpse of the Stars and Stripes. I notice that an American congressman has given notice of a bill to deprive of the rights of citizenship any American who shall reside abroad more than five years ! This is aimed at the millionaires who reside abroad to evade taxes. But think of the blow it would inflict upon the 3,300 American foreign missionaries who have gone abroad to stay and have burned their ships behind them ! It is inconceiv- able that citizenship should be wrested from such a body of men and women engaged only in benevolent and unselfish work ! And it was not Rev. Mr. Franson, a Swedish missionary secretary, who had felt a call to visit missions in foreign lands, after visiting the mis- sions in India, Persia, and Eastern and Central Turkey, reached Beirut and spoke March 25th in the college, and at the Sunday- school hall to a large concourse of people. Preaching through an interpreter (an " interrupter," as it has been called) is far from satisfactory. I have had large experience in translating sermons and addresses into Arabic for travellers, and find that the only satisfactory way is to sit quietly behind the speaker with a pad and pencil and take rapid notes, giving the speaker freedom. Then I translate the notes offhand into Arabic and the people get the gist of it without a break. On the 4th of April, 1906, was held in Cairo the memorable conference of missionaries to Mohammedan lands. The sessions were held in the Church Missionary Society's buildings, the former home of Arabi Pasha. The attendance was large, including delegates from the Turkish Empire, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India, the East Indies, the Sudan, and North and West Africa. The papers read, the discussions held, and the reports made, showed a striking uniformity of ex- perience with regard to the difficulties, the encouragements and the magnitude of the work. There was no note of retreat or pessimism. The time had come for an onward movement all 766 Jubilee Times along the line. Thirty-two thousand converts in India and the East Indies were regarded as but the first-fruits of a great gather- ing. It was agreed that we owe it to our Moslem brethren to ex- hibit the true nature of Christianity, to show them that we are their friends, to disabuse them of their false conceptions of the Trinity and the Scriptures, and to show them that the hostile and cruel spirit shown by the European crusaders and by modern Christian nations no longer exists. That we only ask that they read the Tourah and the Ingeel (the Old and New Testaments) and judge for themselves. And we ask that Christians in Mos- lem lands enjoy the same liberty of conscience that Moslems en- joy in Christian lands. We were agreed to appeal to all Chris- tian people to pray for our Mohammedan friends, and to send forth labourers into the vast fields occupied by two hundred mil- lions of Mohammedans. Some timid men had apprehended that this conference would awaken acts of hostility on the part of the hundreds of thousands of Moslems in Cairo, and had even asked Lord Cromer to inter- fere and prevent such a calamity. But the Moslem journals and populace took no notice of the conference. The evening open discussion with the sheikhs of the Azhar University and Moslem students continued as usual, and we from other and less favoured lands looked with wonder at the notices posted on the mission house and in the hotels, of evening public discussions with Mohammedans. It was apparent that all delegates present were ready for a new forward move- ment. Twenty years ago I published a little volume, " The Moham- medan Missionary Problem " (a sermon preached before the Gen- eral Assembly in Saratoga, May, 1879), and pled for an awakening of the Church to its duty towards Islam and insisted that "God has been preparing Christianity for Islam : He is now preparing Islam for Christianity. The Roman power and the Greek lan- guage prepared the way for the coming of Christ and the giving of the Gospel to the world. Anglo-Saxon power and the Arabic Bible in the sacred language of the Koran are preparing the way Our Great Objective 767 for the giving the Word of Christ and Christ the Word to the millions of the Mohammedan world. " The religion of Islam now extends from the Pacific Ocean at Peking to the Atlantic at Sierra Leone, over one hundred and twenty degrees of longitude, embracing 175,000,000 of followers (now 200,000,000, 1906). Its votaries are diverse in language, nationality, and customs, embracing the more civilized inhabitants of Damascus, Cairo, and Constantinople, as well as the wild nomad tribes of Arabia, Turkistan, and the Sahara. " The evangelization of these vast organized, fanatical, and widely extended masses of men is one of the grandest and most inspiring problems ever brought before the Church of Christ on earth. It is a work of surprising difficulty which will require a new baptism of apostolic wisdom and energy, faith, and love. " This great Mohammedan problem lying before the Church of Christ in the immediate future, connected with its fulfillment of the great missionary commission of its divine Head for the world's salvation, will tax the intellect, the faith, the wisdom, the zeal, and the self-denial of the whole Church in every land. " How are we to reach the 200,000,000 of Mohammedans spread over one hundred and twenty degrees of longitude from China to Mogadore ; embracing vast nations speaking thirty different lan- guages, with diverse climates, customs, and traditions, yet unified and compacted by a common faith which has survived the shock and conflicts of twelve hundred years ? "... Let every Christian missionary insist upon the great scheme of redemption, the atoning sufferings and death of Jesus the son of Mary and when the Mohammedan feels, as many have already felt, that he is a lost sinner and under the righteous displeasure of an offended God, he will gladly and gratefully take refuge in the conviction and the faith that man needs a Saviour from sin, and that Jesus the son of Mary in order to be a Saviour must also be the Son of God." When the above words were written the exact statistics of Islam were not known. The number of Mohammedans under Christian rule was supposed to be : 768 Jubilee Times England in India 41,000,000 Russia in Central Asia 6,000,000 France in Africa 2,000,000 Holland in Java and Celebes 1,000,000 Total 50,000,000 But the statistical survey of Dr. Zwemer presented to the Cairo conference gives the total number under Christian rule in 1906 as 161,000,000, out of a total of 232,966,170. Great Britain in Africa .... 17,920,330 " " " Asia .... 63,633,783 Total 81,554,113 France in Africa 27,849,580 " " Asia 1,455,238 Total 29,304,818 Holland in Asia 29,289,440 Russia in Europe and Asia 15,889,420 Germany in Africa 2,572,500 America in the Philippines 300,000 Other states 2,150,579 Total 161,060,870 Thus two-thirds of the Mohammedans in the world are under Christian rule, one-seventh under non-Christian rulers (33,976,500) and only 37,928,800, or a little more than one-seventh, under purely Moslem rulers. This remarkable fact renders any political solidarity of Islam impossible. It also insures liberty of conscience to honest- minded Moslems who wish to read the Bible and even to profess Christianity. If any of the delegates to Cairo were faint-hearted when they went, they all came away full of hope and courage. We who labour in the Ottoman Empire have to " learn to labour and to wait." We cannot give the names of converts until they George Alexander 769 are dead or exiled. And to publish the names of the exiled might bring down wrath upon the heads of their relatives. The machinery of political espionage and persecution is so complex and ramified that we must be " wise as serpents." Let any Moslem believer be charged by another with having cursed the name of Mohammed and he will be exiled without a trial. This is one of the most monstrous and iniquitous features of the present regime in this empire. No man knows when he is safe, and nothing is easier than denouncing a Moslem convert with having cursed the name of Mohammed. Among the delegates to the conference was the Reverend Dr. George Alexander, pastor in New York, and president of the Presbyterian Board of Missions. He accompanied us to Jeru- salem and Beirut and visited several of our stations, preaching twice in Beirut and sailing May 4th for America. What a blessing to us in this far-off land to see the benignant face of such a man and hear his voice in our churches ! We in Syria are especially favoured in this respect, being on the hne of travel to the Holy Land and we appreciate our privileges. The steamer which took Dr. Alexander and his niece also took our Persian missionary delegates, Dr. Wilson and Miss Holli- day, returning from Cairo to Tabriz, Mr. and Mrs. Jordan of Teheran, going to America and Rev. George A. Ford of Sidon going home on furlough. Dr. Ford returned in December, a new man, having been married in America to Miss Katherine Booth, daughter of our beloved friend, the late William A. Booth, Esq., of New York. They came out buoyant and fresh, ready for work, full of hope and cheer. Mrs. Ford will find in the retired and secluded hfe in the mission school in Sidon a striking contrast to the life in New York. But missionaries abroad, like pioneers of the West, find home where the heart is, and truly consecrated men or women can adjust themselves to any environment. The Hon. Wm. J. Bryan, the Chrysostom of Democracy, vis- ited Beirut in May, with his wife, son and daughter. He had a taste of the Turkish solicitude for the intellectual welfare of its subjects and guests by having his books seized and threatened 77° Jubilee Times with confiscation by the custom-house pohce. But by the efforts of the consul-general the Waly was persuaded to restore the books and leave the distinguished visitor unmolested. He addressed the Christian Endeavour Society at a public evening assembly and lectured in the Syrian Protestant College on the Christian religion and its evidences, speaking with a mellif- luous facility, beauty of language, and cogency of argument which quite captivated his hearers. He made a profound impression, and reflected honour on his country as a Christian land. One could not help thinking of the contrast between Mr. Bryan and the typical Turkish pasha. Who ever heard of a political speech by a Turkish pasha ? Politics is, in this land, not a subject to be talked about or thought about. All the political thinking for the empire is supposed to be done on the Bosphorus. A despotism cannot train orators or engender eloquence. When even the press must avoid both re- hgion and politics, the public mind soon subsides into stoUd if not sullen indifference.' Among the changes of this year in Syria was the arrival of President Howard Bliss from America and the departure of Dr. Hoskins and family and Mrs. George Wood for the home land. The benefactions of Mrs. Wood to educational work in Syria need no praise from me. The fine mission house in Judaideh, the Gerard Institute in Sidon, the farm of 300 acres and the Beulah Orphan Home known as Dar es Salaam are monuments of her generosity. The summer was now past. The scattered families and labourers returned from their vacations in Mount Lebanon and the interior, and preparations were completed for a new year's work in the mission stations and the higher schools of learning. The prospect for a prosperous year was never brighter, when three successive blows fell upon the college and mission circles filling all minds with awe and solemnity. First, Mr. E. H. Barnes, 'November, 1908 — Under the new Turkish Constitution, all is now changed. We have a free press, free assembly and free speech. Elo- quent orators are arising on every side. Death of William King Eddy 771 tutor in the Syrian Protestant College, was mortally injured by a kick from his horse early in October, and survived only three days. Then came the second stroke in the death of one of God's noblemen, Rev, William King Eddy of Sidon. I wrote of his death as follows : " His peaceful, beautiful death seemed as the ' Amen ' to a noble, harmonious anthem. He was encamped in Wady Darbaz, about four miles and a half distant from both Bussah and 'Alma at the northeast end of the plain of Acre. His tent companions were his two sons, Clarence, twelve years old, and William, ten, his servant Hassan, and his Bedawi disciple and devoted friend, 'Ali Berdan. Hassan he had taken care of when a poor boy and he had proved to be a most faithful and thoughtful servant to Mr. Eddy in his constant itinerating over the mountains and plains of Southern Syria and Northern Palestine. 'Ali, who was once a noted robber, sheep-thief, and highwayman, became ac- quainted with Mr. Eddy on a hunting expedition and admired his marksmanship so much that he accompanied him on his tours through that wild and lawless region. By degrees he left off cursing, swearing, lying, and stealing and his change was so striking that the Arabs and villagers of that whole region between Tyre and Tiberias called Mr. Eddy 'All's ' kussis ' or minister. He loved Mr. Eddy and would do anything for him. " Mr. Eddy had been on a long tour through the villages north, south, and west of Mount Hermon, and after a few days of rest at Sidon set out on Wednesday, October 31st, for another tour to Tyre, 'Alma, Bussah, and Safad. Professor Carrier of Mc- Cormick Theological Seminary, who had been with him on the Mount Hermon trip, went with him as far as Tyre, and then pur- sued his journey to Jerusalem, while Mr. Eddy turned eastward to Bussah and pitched his tent near a fine stream of water four miles and a half east of the town. On Saturday, November 3d, he told his men to take the boys on a hunting trip into the forest and among the rugged hills, as he wished to rest and prepare for two communion services the next day at Bussah and 'Alma. They 772 Jubilee Times returned at evening, very weary, and, after supper, all retired, father and sons in the tent on iron travelling bedsteads and Hassan and 'Ali in the cook's tent. Before midnight Mr. Eddy was seized with acute pain in the heart and called Hassan, who came with 'Ali and found him suffering and speaking only with great difficulty. The boys awoke and sat up in bed. Mr. Eddy said to them, ' My sons, I am about to die, good-bye.' He gave them various messages to their mother and others, and asked Clarence to repeat the Twenty-third Psalm, and said, ' Now, boys, lie down and go to sleep, it is too cold for you to get up.' (Thoughtful to the end !) Beautifully he wove into the sad news of impending death affectionate remembrances of his lifelong as- sociate, recently married in America. ' To-day Dr. Ford and his bride have sailed from New York on their way to Syria, and to-day I am beginning my journey from Syria to heaven.' 'Ali offered to gallop to Bussah for medical aid. Mr. Eddy said, * No, 'Ali, I am too near the end ; nothing can avail now ; I shall soon be gone. ' He then gave Hassan messages to Dr. Samuel Jessup and Dr. Mary Eddy, and to the church in Mejde- luna (whom he had especially helped). When the paroxysm of pain came on 'Ali and Hassan brought hot stones from the fire- place outside, where the food had been cooked, and placed them at his feet, which were growing icy cold. They chafed his hands and did all in their power to relieve him. About i a. m., Sunday, November 4th, he said to Hassan, ' You can see by my pulse that death is near. When I cease to breathe, close my eyes, dress me in my clothes, take all my papers and the contents of my pockets, wrap them and carry them to Mrs. Eddy. Pack up the tent equipage and carry me to Bussah, and there Mr. Shikri will make a coffin. Then take me to Sidon. I wish my body to be buried there, among my people, and not in my lot in the Beirut ceme- tery.' He then placed his hand on 'Ali's head and bade him and Hassan a loving good-bye. His voice was growing weaker. He said to his little sons, ' Sleep on now ; I shall sleep and not wake here.' His pulse grew feebler and his breathing ceased. His soul passed on to glory. In Harness in the Wilderness 773 " Silence fell upon the lonely camp. The little boys say that they could not sleep, neither could they get warm. ' How could we get warm when our hearts were so cold ? ' At length one of them left his bed, got in with his brother, and locked in each other's arms they fell asleep. " Mr. Eddy had for some time been conscious that a mortal malady was fastened upon him. With true prophetic instinct he had said to his wife, ' I shall die some day suddenly, so do not be alarmed when you hear of my death. I would prefer to die in the wilderness where I have spent so much of my time.' And his desire was accomplished. He died in his missionary tent, apart from the habitations of men, in the silence of the midnight, in those mountains of " Gahlee of the Gentiles,' his loyal dis- ciple, the Bedawi, 'Ali Berdan, being the last to watch his ex- piring breath. " When all was finished, in the quiet of the night 'Ali rode to Bussah and brought bearers. The camp was packed and taken to town. The bearers bore the dear form on a stretcher to Bussah, where it was laid in the public open area, and the vil- lagers surrounded it with great lamentations. Shikri, a devoted friend and helper of Mr. Eddy, prepared a coffin. It was borne three miles down to the seashore near Zib (the ancient Achzib) where a boat with eight oarsmen was engaged to take the body to Sidon. After rowing eleven miles, opposite the Ladder of Tyre, a fierce north wind arose and made rowing impossible. They drew up to the beach and tried to tow the boat with a rope, but this was dangerous with the rising surf. They then landed, engaged a camel from a passing caravan, and set out for Tyre, seven miles distant. At Ras el Ain, three miles south of Tyre, they met a wagon and a company of friends, the pastor. Rev. Asaad Abbud, the Misses Walker and Onslow, of the British Syrian School, and others. At the bridge of the river Kasimiyeh, five miles north of Tyre, they met Mr. Stuart Jessup and the Sidon pastor, Mr. Khalil Rasi, in a carriage, who took the wearied little orphan boys on with them to Sidon, where the party arrived about 10 p. m., met and accompanied by large numbers of yy4 Jubilee Times brethren and friends, Mohammed Effendi Dada, a Moslem, one of the most devotedly attached friends of Mr. Eddy, and a skillful carpenter, superintended the making of an appropriate coffin in the industrial shops, to replace the rough box made in Bussah, and after the body was transferred to it, it was placed in the chapel for the night. " The sad telegraphic news reached Beirut at 2 p. m. Sunday, as also Tripoli and Zahleh. Dr. Mary P. Eddy, at M'aamiltein near Beirut, was informed of her brother's death and set out by moon- light by carriage for Sidon. On Monday morning at six Messrs. Nelson of Tripoli, William Jessup of Zahleh, H. H. Jessup and March of Beirut with Professor Porter and Mr, Kurban of the college, and Mr. Powell, United States vice-consul, left for Sidon, arriving about noon, " The funeral was held at 2 p. m, in the ancient Crusaders' Hall, the present chapel of the boarding-schools. It was a magnificent tribute to the memory of the departed one, — Christians, Moslems, and Jews, and representatives of some twenty villages were pres- ent to do him reverence. Some came from 'Alma, thirty miles distant. The crowds about the chapel were so great that the street outside was blocked. The services were conducted by Drs. Henry and Samuel Jessup, Rev. F. W. March, Professor Porter, Rev. William Jessup, and Rev, Asaad Abbud, " As the procession passed through the streets, the Moslems shut their shops and stood in silence on both sides of the street, and many of them walked the mile out to the cemetery. Thousands of the people of Sidon and the vicinity crowded into the streets and open spaces as the funeral line advanced. The head of the Romish Latin convent exclaimed as the cortege passed, ' That man has gone straight to heaven,' Three elegiac poems were recited over the grave by young men from the Gerard Institute. The expressions of sympathy were very affecting. As the peo- ple left the cemeter)'', the missionaries stood with Dr. Nelson, the brother of Mrs. Eddy, near the gate to receive, according to the Syrian custom, the parting bow and salutation of the friends. One elderly Moslem called out, ' We shall never forget him, we An Ideal Missionary 775 shall never forget you, God comfort you.' The grief of the peo- ple old and young, of teachers and preachers and neighbours, was very great. It was a solemn hour for all. Sidon and Syria had lost a champion. " Mr. Eddy developed remarkable power as a missionary. He was a man of more than ordinary intellectual ability and force of character. His whole heart was in evangelistic work. The mis- sion assigned to him the care of an extensive district, including many outstations with their churches and schools. The Syrian pastors and helpers under his superintendence needed and re- ceived his constant cooperation in a thousand matters. He was indefatigable in his labours. He spent no small part of each year on horseback, visiting the various parts of his great bishopric, sleeping in the native houses, exposing himself freely to every kind of hardship and privation, travelling in summer's heat and winter's cold, and not only in sunshine but in rain and snow. In the mingled beauty and strength of his Christian consecration, he was an ideal missionary. He took, too, a deep interest in matters outside of his own immediate field. He was one of the best in- formed men in the world regarding the political, economic, and moral problems in the Turkish Empire." He died December 3, 1906. At the meeting of the mission an appropriate minute was adopted, and a memorial service held in which fifteen American and English missionaries recounted their impressions of his life and character. He was in many respects the ideal missionary. The third stroke of sorrow came in the death of Prof. Robert Haldane West of the Syrian Protestant College on December 12th, of typhoid fever. He came to Syria November 14, 1883, and for twenty years has been a man to reckon upon in the college. He won the affection and respect of all who knew him. His high scientific attainments as a mathematician and astronomer, his mechanical skill, his practical good sense, his knowledge of human nature, his firm stand for truth and right- eousness, his great humility"and godly life made him a fit example for the hundreds of young men who came under his influence. 776 Jubilee Times On August 30, 1905, he was one of the astronomers appointed to observe the solar edipse at Assouan, Upper Egypt. Robert West was a saintly scholar and a scholarly saint. 1907 — Early in 1907 the Moslem journals in Egypt and Syria boasted that Japan was likely to become Mohammedan ; that a deputation of learned sheikhs had interviewed the Mikado, who was disposed to adopt Islam as the national faith. Well assured that the story was false, I wrote to Dr. Imbrie of Tokio, who replied that there was not a Moslem in Japan, that no deputation of Moslems had seen the Mikado nor could see him. I translated Dr. Imbrie's letter into Arabic and had it published in the A/tram of Cairo, as we could not print it in Syria. Here the Moslems can attack Christianity, but no Christian can reply. (It remains to be seen whether, under the new constitution of July 24, 1908, free discussions with Moslems will be allowed.) In June we gave diplomas to four theological graduates, who went at once to their fields of labour, three in Northern Syria, and one to the Bookaa. The necrology of this year includes the death, on February ist, of Mr. Selim Kessab, a prominent Christian worker, and, on March 2d, that of Miss Proctor, founder of the Shwifat schools. Mr. Kessab, or " Muallim Selim," as he was familiarly called, was a native of Damascus, born in the year 1841. In July, i860, at the time of the dreadful massacre in Damascus, he was the Arabic teacher and helper of Rev. John Crawford, of the Irish Presbyterian Mission. They had gone to Yabrood for the sum- mer, when the Moslem villagers attempted to kill him, asserting that all Christians were to be massacred, but the friendly sheikh protected him and the missionaries. The massacre in Damascus took place July 9th, and a fortnight later a party of Algerine horsemen of the Prince Abd el Kadir went to Yabrood, at the request of the British consul and escorted them safely to Damas- cus. Two months later he removed with the missionaries Craw- ford and Robson to Beirut, where in September he met Mrs. Bowen Thompson, just arrived from England to aid in the relief Selim Kessab — Louisa Proctor 777 of the widows and orphans. He was her interpreter and teacher, and became in time the head master of the institution, and was for years the trusted examiner of all the British Syrian Schools. He was prominent in the Syrian Evangelical Church, and often preached with great acceptance. His Arabic was both clear and classical, and he was master of the most extensive " bahr," or vocabulary, in Arabic, that I have ever known. He spoke with great ease and fluency. On the last morning of his life he entered the chapel of the institution as usual, to conduct morning prayers. In the midst of the prayer he suddenly fell back and expired from heart failure. His death was a great loss to the cause of Protestant Christian education and to the church in Syria. He was the founder and first president of Beirut City Y. M. C. A. called in Arabic " The Shems ul Bir," or sun of righteousness. Miss Louisa Proctor came to Syria as a traveller, in 1880, and joined Mrs. Mentor Mott in the British Syrian School work. Later she assisted successively Miss Hicks of the Female Educa- tion Society in Shemlan, Mount Lebanon, and Miss Taylor in her remarkable work for Moslem and Druse girls in Beirut. Up to 1885 the Shwifat schools were under the American Mission, and in August, 1880, Miss Susan H. Calhoun with her widowed mother began a high school for girls, which continued until their departure, on account of impaired health, for America in April, 1885. Miss Proctor then acceded to the request of the Shwifat people, and, in September, 1886, opened a boarding-school for girls with fifteen pupils, being assisted by the Syrian preacher of the American Mission, Rev. Tannus Saad, who continued as her assistant and manager up to the time of her death. She erected a large edifice for a boys' boarding-school, and, at the time of her decease, had in both schools 183 pupils, of whom 114 were boarders. She devoted her fortune and her whole time and strength to these schools. She had remarkable self-consuming zeal, great energy and executive ability, and even in advancing years taught her class with all fidelity. Her work is now under the care of Miss Stephenson, Rev. Tannus Saad, and a committee 77^ Jubilee Times of friends in England and Beirut. Shvvifat is a large village of Greeks and Druses, at the base of the Lebanon range, six miles south of Beirut. In May an imperial order was issued for the Syrian Protestant College and the American schools in the empire, granting them the same immunities that are given to the schools of other na- tions. The state of the empire seemed almost hopeless. Murder and outrage were unpunished, secret police and spies made life miserable : everything was under censorship and espionage and the best citizens were constantly maltreated, imprisoned or ex- iled. No one could blame the people for emigrating in thou- sands. In this same month two corner-stones were laid with great ceremony : that of the Orthodox Greek bishop's proposed college, and the Waly's industrial schools. The latter were completed and opened for pupils, but on the removal of the Waly who founded them, and having no endowment or fixed income, they have been closed. The Greek college is still unfinished, as, owing to divisions in the sect, the funds failed for the time. In June a young Persian Moslem convert, a pupil of Sidon school, who had been teaching in Hauran, was arrested and im- prisoned in Damascus and Beirut. No charge was filed against him, and he was not given a trial, but the police and zabtiyehs ex- pected bribes and kept him in prison for months. On June 28th Muzuffar Pasha, Governor of Lebanon, died, re- gretted by none. His family had exploited the Lebanon district for months, shamelessly taking bribes, until his government be- came a byword. He was succeeded in the fall by Yusef Franco* son of a former governor, who has yet to prove his competence for this high office. We were all made very anxious, in September, by the serious illness of Dr. Daniel Bliss. It was cause for the greatest thank- fulness that he was mercifully restored to health, and he has now recovered his usual vigour, to the great joy of the whole com- munity. When Through the Deep Waters 779 The American Press reported this year that 75,200 volumes, and 22,292,842 pages had been printed, making, from the begin- ning, 878,756,184 pages. The mission had 100 schools of all grades, and 5,089 pupils. The income from pupils in all the mission schools was ^41,632, and the Syrian Protestant College income was even larger. In October my only surviving sister, Miss Fanny M. Jessup, died in Montrose, Pa., aged seventy-two years. She was a model of loving devotion to her kindred and service to her church. During the fifty-two years of my residence in Syria she had, when not disabled by illness, written me or brother Samuel a weekly letter. Through her we have been kept in close touch with the home friends and the home land. Though struggling, for forty years with an incurable malady, she maintained her cheerful Christian courage and found joy in blessing others. But I httle thought what a grievous affliction was in store for me, when, after the December mission meeting was over, my dear wife, Theodosia, was taken suddenly ill with a cold which developed rapidly into pneumonia. Her heart was affected, and in the early morning of December 19th she breathed her last, peacefully falling asleep in Jesus. She said she was ready to go, but she longed to remain for the sake of her loved ones, and be- cause there was so much more she wanted to do for her Lord. Others have spoken and written of her eminent piety, her high intellectual gifts, her musical talents and unwearied missionary labours, her organization of the societies which are carrying on the work of Christian Endeavour, the Beirut reading-room, and the Syrian Women's " Helping Hand." The sympathy of our friends, Syrian and foreign, was unbounded, and the tributes paid to her character and life were beautiful. " She hath done what she could." A learned effendi of Beirut recently said to me that the so- called Koranic learning of the Azhar University is a sham and behind the age. Said he, " Of what use is it that this Fukih or learned sheikh can tell you twenty different interpretations of a verse of the Koran, or a point of law, and strut about in his long ySo Jubilee Times robes full of scholastic conceit ? We want men trained in prac- tical things, and not men living in the seventh and eighth cen- turies ! " The Moslems have many fine traits, and hold to much of the truth, A poor Protestant girl in Beirut, wasted with consump- tion, helped to support herself and her widowed mother by knit- ting the beautiful thread edging called " oya " on the border of the muslin veils of the Syrian women. One day she started to walk down-town about a mile, to deliver to the merchant a dozen veils she had finished. When nearly down to the old city she sank exhausted by the wayside. Nearly opposite was a Moslem coffee-house. An elderly white-bearded Moslem saw her and hastened to carry her a stool and help her to sit on it. He said, " My child, you look very ill. Why did you try to walk this hot day ? " He then ordered iced lemonade, ordered a carriage, and drove with her to an educated Moslem doctor in the vicinity. Getting a prescription, for which he paid, and paying the phar- macist also for the medicine, he ordered the driver to take her home at his expense ! She did not know his name, but in teUing us of it a few days after as we called on her, lying on her bed, she said, " Was not that like the Good Samaritan ? " We as- sured her that it was. But we could not ascertain the name of the kind-hearted old man. Let us print and teach and live before them a Christian Hfe and we may win them to Christ. The Arabic Bible with educational and medical missions will be the efficient factors in bringing Islam to Christ. F'-/^H PLAN OP" THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MISSION PROPERTY AT BEIRUT XXX What Shall the Harvest Be? — January 1908-May 1909 WITH this year, in my seventy-seventh year, I conclude this sketch of a missionary's hfe and of the American Mission in Syria. I hardly expected to live to see the granting of a Constitution in Turkey, but it has come in my day, and we are now living in the time of transition between the old and the new, a time, naturally, full of ferment and unrest. The work of Christian education in Syria suffered a great loss by the death, in January, of Mr. Morris K. Jesup of New York, a trustee of the Syrian Protestant College, and one of its most generous supporters. Among other losses by death was that of Mr. Thomas Little, the head of the boys' boarding-school of the Friends' Mission in Brummana ; that of Mrs. Luciya Zaazooah Saiugh, for many years a teacher in the Beirut Girls' School, and an exemplary Christian wife and mother; and, on November 21st, Rev. John Wortabet, M. D,, aged eighty-one years. He was widely known as a physician and author. He was ordained May, 1853, in Hasbeiya, and served as pastor there about five years when he visited Scotland and published his invaluable book on the " Re- ligions of Syria." He was then sent out by a Scotch society as missionary to Aleppo where he remained until called in 1869 to a professorship in the Beirut Medical College as colleague with Drs. Van Dyck and Post. He was a man of great industry, an exact scholar and successful physician. He was especially kind to the sick poor, and had a wide reputation throughout Syria. For twenty years he had given up preaching and confined him- self to professional and literary work. He was one of the original committee which organized the Asfuriyeh Hospital for the Insane. 781 782 What Shall the Harvest Be? Mrs. S. H. Calhoun, the widow of the " Saint of Lebanon," died in the home of her missionary daughter, Mrs. C. H. Ran- som, at Adams, Natal, South Africa, November 4th, aged eighty- four years. She arrived in Syria March 6, 1849, and for twenty- six years until June, 1875, lived in Abeih a beautiful life, the angel of a model Christian household, beloved by Druses and Christians of all sects, and a tower of strength to her noble husband. In June, 1875, she sailed for America with her husband, who died in Buffalo, December 14, 1876. The following May she returned to Syria and laboured among the women in Beirut, Deir el Komr (1878), and Shwifat (1880). In 1885 she returned to America, and afterwards accompanied her daughter, Mrs. Ransom, to the Zulu Mission, Natal, where she remained until her death, having visited Syria in 1901 en route for America. Mrs. Wm. K. Eddy, feeling obliged to resign from the mission, sailed with her two younger boys and Dr. and Mrs, Nelson for America, in April. Rev. Wm. Jessup and family started on their furlough in July. The work of the press was a record one, — 44,589,571 pages, of which 30,500,000 were Arabic Scriptures, having been printed. Eighteen cases of Scriptures were shipped to Shanghai, for use among Chinese Mohammedans. In March orders were on file for more than 100,000 copies of Scriptures and parts of Scrip- tures. There has been also a marked increase in the number of pupils in all the mission boarding-schools for boys and girls, as well as in the amount paid by them. Mr. Amin Fehad was ordained in the summer over the Abeih church, in the presence of a crowded congregation, and I was glad to stand in the old pulpit of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Bird and give hipi the ordaining charge. Mr. Tannus Saad was ordained in Beirut in December, during the annual meeting of the Syria Mission, as pastor of the Shwi- fat congregation. Early in December, Mr. Antone Hamawy, a stone-mason of Kharaba, in Hauran, east of the Sea of Galilee, was ordained by the A Forecast 783 Presbytery of Sidon and two of the church-members were ordained as elders at the same time. He has had no theological training, but has studied the Bible for years, and drunk deep from the fountain of divine truth. These three brethren came to see me in Beirut, came into my sick-room, and I prayed with them. It was re- freshing to see these stalwart men, dressed like the Arabs of Hauran, consecrated to the service of Christ in that wild region. In June, 1908, one month before the fall of the Turkish des- potism, I wrote the following forecast of the future of Syria, little thinking that in so short a time such great strides would have been taken towards its ultimate fulfillment. The Future As I look forward from this height to the future of Syria I am full of hope. For twenty-three hundred years Semitic Syria has been a vassal of Indo- Germanic races, Macedonians, Greeks, Ro- mans, Franks, and Turks. And there is little hope that it will ever be governed by a Semitic ruler. There will be a new Syrian people and a new Syria. But it will not be evolved chiefly from political changes, nor by commercial development, but by the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These effete systems of Oriental Christianity will be vitalized by casting off the grave- clothes of dead forms and standing up in the purity and life of a true Christian faith. The scores of monasteries and nunneries, which have appropriated the hard earnings of the poor peasants of the Greeks, Maronites, and Greek Catholics for ages, until they dominate whole provinces by the money power, holding the people as tenants at will, will be confiscated, as has been done in Italy, Spain, and France, and the proceeds devoted to schools and hospitals instead of supporting an army of lazy, corrupt, and worthless monks. There will arise from among the Moslems themselves earnest men who will see in Jesus, the son of Mary, their true prophet, priest, and king, and call on the Moslem world to accept Him as their Lord and Redeemer. 784 What Shall the Harvest Be? The evangelical church of Syria will carry on the work of evangehzing the Bedawin Arab tribes. The American mission- aries, leaving the care of the native churches to the people them- selves, will devote their energies to instruction in the universities and colleges, to the theological schools, the seminaries for girls, and the work of publication. Woman, emancipated from the hareem and the veil, will take her proper place in Oriental society, supreme in the home and eminent in Christian service. Can all these things take place under Mohammedan despotic rule ? I do not venture to say, but the verdict of history is that despotism and reform are incompatible. Whoever is on the throne, will have to grant absolute liberty of conscience, abolish bribery and corruption in the courts, and make all men equal be- fore the law. The interference of priests and bishops, Ulema and sheikhs, in the courts of justice will be stopped. No man enter- ing a court will be asked, " What is your religious sect ? " or " What pull or backing have you ? " but each man will be treated as a man and a citizen. No Christian will be told as now that " You cannot testify, as testimony is a religious act, and only Mohammedans are true believers, therefore they only can testify," but this colossal principle of religious bigotry will be abolished. The thousands of emigrants to America, returning with their foreign-born children, will bring into the old East the free ideas and sterling principles of the West. And the broad uncultivated acres of the Hinterland of Syria will teem with new villages and a crowded, enlightened, and happy people. The Arabic Bible will supplant the Arabic Koran : not the mutilated and manipulated Bible of the modern sappers and miners, but the Old Testament as we have it from the Jews, and the New Testament as accepted by the early Church. The scholars of the Syrian Evangelical Church, born and bred in an Oriental atmosphere and accustomed to Semitic forms of thought and expression, accept the Bible as it is, and find no difficulty in matters which men trained in Western and European surroundings regard as insuperable objections to the Scripture The Bloodless Revolution 785 veracity and verity. And the Arabic Bible, which has no peer in Arabic literature, and which as a translation is known to stand nearest to the original text, will continue to mould the literature of the Arab race in the future, as the Koran has done in the past. The finer qualities of the Syrian character, their courtesy and hospitality, their sympathy with the sorrowing and bereaved, their loyalty to family and home, will be hallowed and sanctified by the added graces of Christian faith and love, — and certain de- fects, incident to a people oppressed for centuries, will be gradu- ally eliminated by the wholesome air of civil and religious liberty. It is a great comfort, to one able to compare the dark past with the brightening present and the brighter future, that all the modern awakening of the Syrian people is ascribed by the people themselves to the institutions planted by the American mission- aries eight decades ago. The Moslems and Oriental Christians alike used to tell us that the education of girls was not only im- possible but dangerous. Now they vie with each other in founding and conducting schools for girls, building fine edifices, using modern methods, discussing the benefits of female education in their journals, and insisting that the stability of society depends upon educated mothers. One wonders at the transformation. This new de- parture is leavening society. Girls and women are beginning to think. On Sunday p. m., July 26th, as we were leaving the little Aleih chapel after the English service, Consul-General Ravendal startled us all with the telegraphic news that the Midhat Pasha Constitu- tion of 1876, which had been suppressed by Abdul Hamid II for thirty-two years, had now, July 23d, been restored by a blood- less revolution effected by the Young Turkey Party headed by Enver Beg and Niazi Beg, commanders of the Turkish army in Macedonia in the name of the Committee of Union and Progress. The threat of marching on Constantinople with 100,000 men brought the Sultan to terms, and aft^r Vc^in attempts to evade the 786 What Shall the Harvest Be ? issue he was obliged to send telegraphic orders throughout the whole empire reestablishing the Constitution, and requiring the immediate election of members to the Ottoman Parliament. There is no need of going into details which are so fresh in all minds and so generally known, but we, as well as the world at large, were electrified at the sudden transition. \ It was not only the transition of the Turkish Empire from des- I potism to constitutional government, but a transition from an I exasperating censorship of books and newspapers to perfect Hb- jerty of the press ; from a cruel and intimidating system of espio- nage managed by that arch intriguer and deceiver of the Sultan, I Izzet Pasha, to the abolition of the whole system and the flight 'of Izzet himself; from a grinding system of internal tezkeras I (passports) to free right of transit to all ; from constant banish- j ment and imprisonment of enlightened men, Moslems and Chris- i tians, suspected of belonging to the Young Turkey Party, — hun- \ dreds having fled from their country, — to a full and free amnesty to all political exiles, hundreds of whom are now returning to their loved native land ; from a condition in which no public ^meeting could be held, no public speech uttered without special permission from a fanatical censor, to free speech, free right of iassembly, and freedom in criticizing the acts of the government ; /from an irresponsible rule of hungry and bribe-taking pashas, to ' a parliament of representatives from all parts of the empire, • elected by the people from all sects, Moslems, Christians and I Jews ! I The whole empire burst forth in universal rejoicing. The I press spoke out. Public meetings were held, cities and towns ' decorated, Moslems were seen embracing Christians and Jews, and inviting one another to receptions and feasts. The universal voice of the Moslems was, " We have been compelled by orders from the Sultan's palace to hate one another. Now, we are brethren and we can live in peace. We shall henceforth know each other only as Ottomans." " Long live liberty ! Long live the army ! Long live the Sultan ! " The pent-up feelings of the populace everywhere burst forth in Long Live Liberty I 787 loud hurrahs in the public streets. Syria has never seen such real rejoicing. Can it be true ? Will it last ? were questions in all mouths. It was startling to those who had left Syria early in July under the old regime to be greeted in New York harbour with the news of free institutions in Turkey. It seemed too good to be true, and for weeks we here, foreigners and Syrians alike, seemed to be hving in a dream. The Golden Age seemed to be dawning. While the large majority believed in the genuineness of this radical change in the institutions of the empire, not a few doubted, and it is true that the old Islamic spirit of intolerance, held in check temporarily by the popular enthusiasm, has turned out to be like a smouldering flame ready to burst out whenever favourable occasion should offer. This appeared in various ways : — in the sullen attitude of the sheikhs and religious fanatics ; in anonymous papers printed in Damascus and Aleppo asserting that the Con- stitution was destructive to the Sacred Shareaa (Islamic law) of the Koran, and in other ways of which I shall speak later. A striking instance of the practical outcome of this ferment working in the popular mind after the promulgation of the Con- stitution was the attempt made by non-Christian pupils in our Syrian Protestant College to evade the rule requiring attendance upon religious worship. In December, 1908, the college had a larger roll of pupils than ever before, of whom 120 were Moham- medans. Repeated efforts had been made by them, their families and their sheikhs to have them excused from attendance at prayers and all religious exercises, including classes for Bible study, on the ground that this was the new era of " religious liberty." They were reminded that the college is a Christian missionary college, founded by Christian men, controlled by Christian trustees in New York, endowed with Christian funds and that its fundamental rules require all students to attend all the religious exercises. This, however, was well known to all the Moslem parents who send their sons to the college as it has been the policy for forty years, and is made perfectly clear in state- 788 What Shall the Harvest Be? ments in the college prospectus and catalogue. No one is forced to enter the college, there is perfect *' liberty " in that, but if he enters he must conform to all its rules. There is no dis- crimination against non-Christian students. All are treated alike : — Moslems, Armenians, Jews, Greeks, Catholics, Druses and Protestants, and these 870 students, living, studying and exerci- sing together for four, eight, or twelve years will learn to act to- gether harmoniously in the future as citizens of a free country, to respect each other and be the leaders in reform and progress. This was the case until the close of 1908 when ninety of the Moslem students, incited by fanatical men in Beirut, and intriguers among their own number formed a league of rebellion and took an oath on the Koran that they would " neither attend the relig- ious exercises of the college nor leave the college." A consider- able number of the Moslem students refused to join the league, but seventy Jewish students took similar ground, and the faculty, in the absence of the president, had to face the problem of either trying to expel 160 students by force, or yielding temporarily to their demand to be excused from college prayers and Bible study. The latter course was adopted as a temporary expedient, but in March, 1909, after the president's return, this action was modified. The non- Christian students were excused from chapel exercises, but those who wished to remain in the college were required to attend the regular Bible classes. This compromise was to be a " modus Vivendi " until the end of the college year in July, with the understanding that when the college opened its doors in October, 1909, it would be on the old basis of required attendance on religious exercises. This maintains the missionary character of the college, and will be gratifying to all its friends in this em- pire and in America. The history of this difficulty in the college has been ably sum- marized in a printed statement (April, 1909) issued by President Bliss. The dawn of a new era is breaking. A parliament assembled in December, 1908, not, this time, to be suppressed again as in 1877. The entire army of the empire, on which the Sultan The New Parliament 789 Abdul Hamid relied to sustain his throne, has become constitu- tional in its policies. It produced the bloodless revolution and it will see to it that there is no going back. The parliament, as at present constituted, is a fair exponent of the racial and religious elements of the empire. There are 259 members of which Turks Arabs Greeks . Albanians 119 — All Mohammedans 72 — 71 Mohammedans, i Catholic Christian 23 — Orthodox Greek Christians 15 — All Mohammedans Gregorian Armenian 10 — Armenian Christians Kurds .... 8 — Mohammedans Spanish Jews . . 4 — Jews Bulgarians . . . 4 — Orthodox Greek Christians Servians . . . 3 — " '* ** Wallachs . . . i— «< '* " 259 This gives 213 Mohammedan members 42 Christian ** 4 Jewish " As this is their first experience of parliamentary rules and duties, this first session should be regarded as a training-school. The people in the provinces complain bitterly of the present state of disintegration and disorder, and of the failure of Parliament, after a few months in session, to give relief and security to the empire. But the people must be patient. They have started on a new career, and have many able and level-headed men among their leaders. The two great needs to-day are money — to build up the country impoverished by the rapacity of the office-holders — and honest men. The Syrians may well pray, ** Give me men to match my mountains, give me men to match my plains, Men with empires in their purpose, men with eras in their brains." 790 What Shall the Harvest Be? And, may I add, men of conscience, integrity and principle. Alas, that they are so few ! We must anticipate fanatical outbreaks against the constitu- tional government. Lord Cromer says, " To reform Islam is to destroy it." The fanatics evidently believe this and resist reform. The unclean spirit first rent the lad and then came out of him. The evil demon of Moslem fanatical hatred of light and liberty will be cast out, but let us not wonder if it first rend and tear the Ottoman body politic. The question which naturally confronts us is. How will all these great changes affect the religious future of the empire ? We can be sure that the free publication and importation of books, magazines and newspapers will give a great impulse to popular enlightenment and tend to break down prejudice. Popular education in government schools as well as the inde- pendent schools, native and foreign, must be vastly extended and improved, — as hereafter primary education will be compulsory. Heretofore all the government primary schools have been for Moslem children only and under Moslem teachers. It remains to be seen whether government aid will be given to schools for Christian children. The Thumrat, a leading Moslem journal in Beirut, insists that the only sure means for fusing the sects of the empire and making all Ottomans brethren is the mixing of Moslem and Christian children in the common schools to study and learn the same lessons from the same books. It is not clear that the Oriental Christians will consent to this. Moslem children are so foul-mouthed and use such vile language in common conversation, that Christian parents dread to have their children associate with them. But if a government allowance is given to separate schools for the time being, the difficulty may be gradually removed. We cannot expect patriotic Turks and Christians to do in a year what our ancestors have attained only after cen- turies of struggle and experiment. What the effect will be on liberty of conscience to Moslems, Pan-Islamism Doomed 791 one cannot predict. They can at least buy the Bible and Chris- tian books openly, which they could not do before. One great reason for government opposition to Moslems becoming Chris- tians has been that the army of the empire is a Moslem army, — only Moslems being allowed to bear arms — hence every Moslem convert to Christianity was a loss to the army, a renegade from conscription. A late proclamation by the new party of " Union and Progress " declares that henceforth the Christians may enter the army and the military schools for training officers. When this is carried into effect, the government, as such, will not care what a man's religion is, as all will belong to the army as loyal soldiers under the Constitution. It will develop a spirit of manly independence among the youth of the Oriental Christian sects in- stead of the cowed, cringing attitude into which they have so long been driven by their inferior condition. What will be the effect of the Constitution on Pan-Islamism ? 1. It will not promote it.* The policy of the late despotism of " Yildiz " was to elevate, promote, and reward Moslems and to depress, oppress, and suppress Christians. The new policy of equality and justice will elevate Christians and remove fanatical prejudice. It will make it difficult for any Sultan in the future to proclaim a Pan-Islamic crusade. 2. It will modify it. It proclaims the absolute equality of all sects and religions. It claims that Islam favours justice, liberty of conscience, and civilization. If it incites Moslems elsewhere to fraternize with Christians and Jews, and upholds Islam as the bond of brotherhood with all men, it will be a large step forward. A free constitution extracts the fangs of the old Pan-Islamic monster nurtured so long at " Yildiz." 3. The fanatical tribes of Asia and Africa will be slow to ac- cept the counsels of a Sultan at the head of a free, self-governing, civilized people. 4. Arabic scholars are already printing tracts to prove that Islam is the mother of modern civilization, and promotes brother- ' Enver Beg, the head of the reform party, declares that the new Con- stitution will have nothing to do with Pan-Islamism, 79^ What Shall the Harvest Be? hood among the nations. This is a hopeful sign. The new parliament will never vote a Jehad or Holy War ! 5. The right of free assembly and free speech will bring the educated young men, Moslems and Christians, into a new fellow- lowship and a new feeling of dignity and manhood. As a Damascene scholar has just said, " Under the old regime we were mere ciphers. There was no manhood and no self-respect. Suspicion and alienation were universal, but now we can hold up our heads ; we are men, we are brethren. We have rights and we have a country. Life is now worth living ! " This experi- ence of independent manhood is one of the most hopeful features of the present outlook. There may be excesses and errors. In the present transition state of the empire there is great confusion anjd unrest. The reactionaries are numerous and full of intrigue. But the reform government seems to be preparing to do thorough work. The great difficulty is to find honest officials. No mat- ter. A free people will soon learn in the school of experience. The state of Turkey up to July 23, 1908, was like the state of Rome up to September 20, 1870, when the Italian army entered the Eternal City. Up to that time Rome was a nest of spies, informers, and persecutors, governed by the Inquisition. Every Protestant foreign traveller had his Bibles and books taken from him, his steps were dogged by spies, and informers listened at the keyhole of his room. No Protestant book or newspaper could enter the city. Every enlightened Italian was persecuted and banished. But on September 20th the gates flew open. Light and liberty entered. The horde of spies hid their heads. Bible and book shops were opened and travellers unmolested. So in Turkey, before July 23, 1908, the whole empire was under a reign of terror. The best men in the empire were as- sassinated or exiled. Spies charged innocent men with con- spiracy and crime and they were dragged from their beds and thrust into loathsome dungeons. Secret police dogged the steps of every foreigner, seized books and newspapers, and levied black- mail on native travellers, until the people were driven to despera- tion, and while publicly shouting " Long live the Sultan ! " in- July the Month of Liberty 793 wardly invoked the curse of God upon him. But on July 24th all was changed. The Sultan's power was curtailed. His horde of corrupt palace officials imprisoned and banished, and procla- mation made of a free press and free right of assembly, free speech, free transit, no more spies, or secret police, or arbitrary arrests. The exiles called home, no censorship of newspapers, books or telegrams, and for the first time in history, Turkey has a " government of the people, by the people, for the people." The month of July will hereafter be known as the month of liberty : July 4th, America. July 14th, France. July 23d, Turkey. Truly " this is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes"(Ps. 118:43). 6. The seed planted in Syrian soil in 1822 by two young Americans was slow in germinating, but the root took firm hold of the soil. Decade after decade it spread over the empire, from village to village, city to city, and province to province. The school and the press gradually did their work, until thousands of the best youth in Syria, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Egypt are now thinking men and women. Tyranny and misrule have driven them forth to the ends of the earth to breathe a free air and find scope for their energies. They will gradually return, some of them at least, prepared to join in the civil, moral, and political regeneration of the empire. Now is the time for distributing God's Word and spreading a Christian literature. A free press will print more bad than good books. Let all interested in these historic lands supply the means for giving the people a wholesome literature. Let us have faith in the Orient, long oppressed and blinded by centuries of misrule, and just beginning to " see men as trees walking." A chain of parliaments from Portugal to Persia is a fact no one would have credited when I came to Syria. God's hand is in it. He changes the hearts of kings and their people. We 794 What Shall the Harvest Be"? have doubted long enough. Let us have faith in God and hu- manity. Christ will yet come to His own. '♦ His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion endureth throughout all generations." Conclusion After writing two successive conclusions to this history, I find it necessary to add another, in view of the two kaleidoscopic revolu- tions just enacted in Constantinople, and the blood-curdling trage- dies in Cilicia and Northern Syria. They seem to be parts of the expiring throes of Islamic despotism. The Liberal Midhat Consti- tution of 1876, so soon throttled by Abdul Hamid,and revived by the Young Turkey heroes, Niazi Beg and Enver Beg, July 23, 1908, roused against itself the fury of all the reactionary and absolutist forces in the empire headed by the Yildiz palace gang of Abdul Hamid, and the cause of liberty seemed to be lost a second time. But the well-drilled and loyal army of Salonica once more saved Constantinople, banished the old Sultan and placed his younger brother Reshad, a better man, on the throne, April 24, 1909, as Sultan Mohammed V. Simultaneously with this furious outbreak in the capital, came the Cilician, sacrificing more than thirty thousand Armenian Christian lives and leaving more than that number of homeless and starving widows and orphans. Mukhtar Pasha el Ghazi, Turkish commissioner in Egypt for twenty years, and now loyal to the Constitution, writes from Con- stantinople to a Turkish pasha in Egypt, that had the entrance of the Salonica army been delayed five days, not only Constantinople but all the cities in the empire would have been given over to massacre and pillage. Thank God that such horrors were averted ! — and only a small part of the fiendish programme was carried out — /. e., that in Cilicia and Northern Syria. I confess myself unable to predict what will come next. Time alone will reveal the future of this hapless empire. The hand of God is, however, so manifest in recent events that we may firmly Scripsi 795 believe that a higher and better future is in store for the new Ottoman nation. After the Armenian massacres, in 1896, Sir Lewis Morris wrote a burning appeal to Europe to intervene, and seemed to have a seer's vision as he wrote : " Nay, nay, it is enough ! enough ! No more Shall black Oppression rule. Her reign is o'er. No more, O Earth, no more. Let not despair afflict your brethren still ! Let the new-coming Age, a happier birth, Bless these waste places of the suffering Earth ! Let Peace, with Law, the tranquil valleys fill, And make the desert blossom as the rose ! " Postscript : — It was impracticable for my father to personally supervise the bringing out of this book. He is therefore not re- sponsible for any oversights in proof-reading. He would desire to record his gratitude to Dr. Dennis for valuable suggestions on detail points which his exact knowledge made available. H. W. J., Ed. SYRIA Scale 1- aOOOjOOO EggliahMilps yahrelJ.3_ S/ueLBa 30 *o so Mission Stations undeHirvd m BlacM. Outstatwns wH/i Black dot • . Mission Boundary Uj)a. Jj^j Mai eeh Zih Jehl Sa Kerdakao^ -Ehuava TartLLsl 2rdkreLKebiA /IflJ eshShuha Sa Batru GTwLZi BEIRT A1 'S'ohwerr SiAon JeMz •^ W\Kana. Sujan\y^9^^ TUntin, dahreC esli Sherk^eK V?. Wjilph I 63 Sofa. Ac3 ©tL^-So'n*'? 5 " ' TrlfuL Had/fiK Sk/hpdba Tajryhbe}u % l ^-'SaUchad, <^ Lonffitu^ EaM^ 36 o^ Crcennnch. Bart>in1mn/Tr. Eduxl' Appendix I Missionaries in Syria Mission From 1819 to 1908 D. R. Names 1. Rev. Levi Parsons , , 2. Rev. Pliny Fisk . , . 3. Rev. Jonas King, D. D, 4. Rev. Wm. Goodell, D. D, 5. Mrs. Abigail P. Goodell 6. Rev. Isaac Bird . . . 7. Mrs. Ann P. Bird . . . 8. Rev. Eli Smith, D. D. . 9. Mrs. Sarah L. H. Smith 10. Rev. W. M. Thomson, D. 11. Mrs. Eliza N. Thomson 12. Asa Dodge, M. D. . . 13. Mrs. Martha Dodge . . 14. Rev. George B. Whiting 15. Mrs. Matilda S. Whiting 16. Mrs. Maria Thomson . 17. Miss Rebecca Williams IRev. Story Hebard . Mrs. Hebard (Miss Williams) .... 19. Rev. John F. Lanneau 20. Miss Betsey Tilden . . 21. Rev. Chas S. Sherman 22. Rev. Elias R. Beadle . 23. Mrs. Hannah Beadle . 24. Mrs, Martha E. Sherman . 25. Rev. Samuel Wolcott, D. D. 26. Mrs. C. E. Wolcott .... 27. Rev. Nathaniel A. Keyes . 28. Mrs. Mary Keyes 29. Rev. Leader Thomson . . . 30. Mrs. Anne E. Thomson . . 31. C. V. A. Van Dyck, M. D., D. D., L. H. D 32. Mr. George C. Hurter . . . 33. Mrs. Elizabeth Hurter . . . 34. Mrs. Maria W. C. Smith 35. Henry A. DeForest, M. D. . 36. Mrs. C. S. DeForest . . . . 37. Mrs. Julia A. Van Dyck . . 38. Rev. Simeon H. Calhoun . 39. Rev. Thomas Laurie, D. D. Time Time Date of Entering of Leaving of Death Jan. 15, 1820 Feb. 10, 1822 Jan. 15, 1820 Oct. 23, 1825 Nov. 2, 1822 Aug. 26, 1825 Oct. 16, 1823 May 2, 1828 Feb. 16, 1867 Oct. 16, 1823 May 2, 1828 Oct. 16, 1823 Aug. 1835 June 1876 Oct. 16, 1823 Aug. 1835 May 10, 1877 Feb. 18, 1827 Jan. ", 1857 Jan. 28, 1834 Sept. 30, 1836 April 1834 To U, S. 1877 April 8, 1894 April 1834 July 22, 1834 Sept. 1834 Jan. 28, 183s Sept. 1834 1838 Oct. 1834 Nov. 8, 1855 Oct. 1834 Mar. 14, 1856 Aug. 3. 1835 April 29, 1873 Nov. 13. »835 Feb. 18, 1840 Mar. 14, 1836 June 30, 1841 Nov. 13. 1835 May I, 1836 Feb. 17, 1846 June 16, 1836 Mar. I, 1843 Sept. 1838 July I, 1842 October 1838 Sept. 1842 Jan. 6, 1879 Octobe r 1838 Sept. 1842 April I, 1840 Jan. 2, 1843 April I, 1840 Jan. 2, 1843 April I, 1840 Oct. 6, 1841 April I, 1840 April 5. 1844 April I, 1840 April 5, 1844 April I, 1840 Mar. I, 1843 April I, 1840 Mar. I, 1843 April I, 1840 Nov. 13. 1895 April 15, 1841 June 31, 1864 1895 April 15, 1841 June 7, 1861 July 24, 1893 June 17, 1841 May 27, 1842 Mar. 23, 1842 May 8, 1854 1859 Mar. 23, 1842 May 8, 1854 April 3, 1896 Dec. 22, 1842 Now in Beirut July 28, 1844 June 10, 1875 Dec. 14, 1876 Dec. II, 1844 May 9, 1846 (to Nest. Miss.) 797 798 40. Mrs. 41. Rev. 42. Mrs. 43. Rev. 44. Mrs. 45. Rev. 46. Mrs. 47. Rev. 48. Mrs. 49. Mrs. Appendix I Names Henrietta S. Smith Wm. A. Benton . Loanza G. Benton J. Edwards Ford . Mary Ford . . . David M. Wilson Emmeline Wilson Horace Foote . . Roxana Foote . . Emily P. Calhoun Time of Entering Time of Leaving Date of Death . Jan. . Oct. . Oct. . Mar. . Mar. . Mar. . Mar. . Aug. . Aug. . Mar. 52- S3- 54. 55- 56. 57- 58. 60. 61. 62. 63- 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 7»- 72- 73. 74. 75- 76. 77- 78. 79- 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. Mrs. Sarah P. Williams . . Miss Anna L. Whittlesey . Rev. Wm. W. Eddy, D. D. Mrs. Hannah Maria Eddy . Miss Sarah Cheney (Mrs. Aiken) Rev. William Bird . Mrs. Sarah G. Bird . Rev. J. Lorenzo Lyons Mrs. Catherine N. Lyons Rev. Edward Aiken . . Mrs. Susan D. Aiken . Rev. Daniel Bliss, D. D. Mrs. Abby M. Bliss Rev. H. H. Jessup, D. D, Mrs. Caroline Jessup . Miss Jane E. Johnson . Miss Amelia C. Temple Miss Adelaide L. Mason Rev. Samuel Jessup, D. D. Mrs. Annie E. Jessup . Rev. Philip Berry . . . Mrs. Magdalene Berry . Rev. Geo. E. Post, M, LL. D Mrs. Sarah R. Post . . Rev. S. S. Mitchell . . Mrs. Lucy M. Mitchell Rev. Isaac N, Lowry . Mrs. Mary E. Lowry . Mrs. Harriet E. Jessup Miss Eliza D. Everett . Miss Ellen A. Carruth . Rev. Jas. S. Dennis, D. D Miss Ellen Jackson . , Miss Sophie B. Loring Galen B. Danforth, M. D, Rev. Frank Wood . . Mrs. Sophia R. Wood Mrs. Emily C. Danforth D., Mar. May Jan. Jan. April April April Feb. Feb. Jan. Jan. Feb. Feb. Feb. April Aug. Aug. April Jan. Jan. Oct. Oct. Nov. Nov. June June Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Feb. Nov. Dec. Nov. Nov. Nov. Dec. 12, 20, 20, 8, 8. 8, 8. 24. 24. 6, 50. Rev. W. F. Williams, D. D. Mar. 6, 6, 2, 31. 25. 25. 7. 7. 7» 26, 31. 31. ii> 24, 24. 7. 7. 12, 12, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 10, 15. 19. 9, 28, 28, 25, 847 May 1857 847 1 86 1 847 I 86 I 848 June 30, 1865 848 Jan. 30, 1865 848 May 4, 1 86 1 848 May 4, 1 86 1 848 Oct. 1854 848 Oct. 1854 849 April I, 1885 849 May 1 85 1 (to Mosul) Aug. Aug. April Dec. Sept. May Sept. Nov. Nov. 14, 1893 1874 1866 27, 1902 1887 6, 1899 1887 1854 4, 1908 (in Natal) 849 851 852 852 July I, 1854 May I, 1853 Jan. 31, 1900 April 19, 1904 1858 Aug. 30, 1902 14,:; 1 888 853 May I, 853 853 855 June 1863 Mar, 855 June 1863 856 May I, 1858 1889 (?) 856 June 20, 1856 856 ToS.P.C. 1863 856 To S. P. C. 1863 856 July 2, 1864 15. ^859 1862 30, 1865 858 858 Mar. 858 April 860 June 863 863 863 Oct. 863 Oct. 1865 1865 Dec. II, 1895 863 863 867 867 867 867 868 868 868 869 870 870 871 871 871 871 ToS.P.C. ToS.P.C. July July June 2, June 2, June 25, May 10, Feb. Dec. 18, May Sept. 1866 Sept. 29, 1909 1866 1868 1868 1870 April 10, 1871 1870 1872 April 5, 1882 1895 Feb. 8, 1902 1870 1892 1883 1873 July 9. 1875 July 20, 1878 1878 Jan. 13, 1881 Names Appendix I 799 Time Time Date of Entering of Leaving of Death 89. Rev. Oscar J. Hardin . , Nov. 28, 1871 90. Mrs. Mary P. Dennis . . . Oct. 1872 Feb. 1892 91. Rev. Gerald F. Dale, Jr. . Nov. 5, 1872 Oct. 6, 1886 92. Miss Mary Kipp Nov. 5, 1872 Dec. II, 1875 93. Mrs. Mary S. Hardin . . May 5, 1873 94. Rev. Theodore S. Pond . . May 16, 1873 July I, 1889 95. Mrs. Julia H. Pond . . . May 16, 1873 July i, 1889 96. Rev. Frederick W. March Nov. 18, 1873 97. Miss Helen M. Fisher . . Nov. 18, 1873 Mar. 28, 1875 98. Miss Eliza Van Dyck . . . Sept. 1875 '879 99. Miss Harriet M. Eddy (Mrs. F. E. Hoskins) . . Jan. 20, 1876 100. Miss Harriet La Grange . Jan. 25, 1876 101. Miss Emilia A. Thomson . May 30, 1876 102. Miss Mary M. Lyons . . . Oct. 14, 1877 May 6, 1880 June 12, 1896 103. Rev. William K. Eddy . . Oct. i, 1878 Nov. 3, 1906 104. Mrs. Mary Bliss Dale . . . April 16, 1879 1904 105. Rev. Chas. Wm. Calhoun . July 1879 July 22, 1883 106. Rev. W. L. Johnston . . . Aug. 12, 1879 Aug. 12, 1880 107. Mrs. W. L. Johnston . . . Aug. 12, 1879 Aug. 12, 1880 108. Miss Emily G. Bird . . . Aug. 20, 1879 109. Miss Susan H. Calhoun . Oct. 23, 1879 Apr. 20, 1885 no. Miss Fanny Cundall . . .Dec. 18,1879 Mar. 1,1883 111. Mrs. Jennie H. March . . Nov. 4, 1880 112. Rev. George A. Ford, D. D. Jan. 6, 188 1 113. Miss Bessie M. Nelson (Mrs. W. K. Eddy) . . Oct. 12, 1881 April 13, 1908 114. Miss Caroline M. Holmes . Nov. 14, 1883 July II, 1895 115. Miss Sarah A. Ford . . .Dec. 16, 1883 April 1885 116. Rev. Wm. M.Greenlee . , Dec. 16, 1883 July 1887 117. Ira Harris, M. D Dec. 18,1883 118. Mrs. Alice Bird Greenlee . Nov. 6, 1884 July 1887 1 19. Mrs. Theodosia D, Jessup . Nov. 22,1884 Dec. 19,1907 120. Mrs. Alice E. Harris . . . Feb. 1885 121. Miss Alice S. Barber . . . Oct. 15, 1885 122. Miss Rebecca M. Brown . Oct. 15, 1885 June 19, 1892 123. Miss Charlotte H. Brown . Oct. 15, 1885 124. Miss Mary T. M. Ford . Oct. 22, 1887 June 12, 1894 125. Rev. Franklin E. Hoskins July 6, 1888 126. Rev. Wm. S. Nelson, D. D. Oct. 31, 1888 127. Mrs. Emma H. Nelson . . Oct. 31, 1888 128. Rev. Wm. Scott Watson . Oct. 5, 1889 June 8, 1892 129. Mrs. Watson Oct. 5, 1889 June 8, 1892 130. Rev. William Jessup . . . Nov. 29, 1890 131. Mrs. Faith J. Jessup . . . Nov. 29, 1890 132. Miss Ellen M. Law . . . Nov. 28, 1892 Oct. 12, 1897 133. Rev. George C, Doolittle . June 29, 1893 134. Mrs. Carrie S. Doolittle . . June 29, 1893 135. Miss M. Louise Law . . . Oct. 16, 1893 136. Miss Mary P. Eddy, M. D. Dec. 23, 1895 137. Mr. Edward G. Freyer . . Feb. 11, 1895 138. Miss Fanny M. Jessup . . Aug. 17, 1895 April 26, 1902 139. Mrs. Anna Freyer .... Dec. 15, 1895 8oo Appendix I Names 140. Miss Bernice Hunting 141. Miss Rachel E. ToUes 142. Rev. Paul Erdman . . 143. Mrs. Amy C. Erdman 144. Miss Ottora M. Home 145. Mr. Stuart D. Jessup . 146. Mrs. Amy C. Jessup . 147. Mrs. Gertrude B. Erdman . 148. Rev. James H. Nicol . . . 149. Mrs. Reb. McClure Nicol . 150. Mrs. Katherine B. Ford . 151. Rev. James B. Brown . . 152. Miss Ara Elsie Harris, M. D. 153. Miss Jane B. Beekman (Mrs. J. B. Brown) . . . Time of Entering Time of Leaving Oct. Oct. Oct. Oct. Dec. Sept. Sept. Nov. Nov. Nov. Dec. Dec. Aug. 19, 1896 2, 1899 30, 1900 30, 1900 19, 1902 19, 1904 19, 1904 20, 1905 20, 1905 20, 1905 3, 1906 3. J907 24, 1908 Date of Death Dec. 2, 1901 Dec. 30, 1908 Appendix II The History — Bibliography In writing the history of the Syria Mission I have consulted The Memoirs of Pliny Fisk — Edinburgh, 1829. The manuscript journal of Levi Parsons — 1820- 1 822. Bible Work in Bible Lands, by Rev. Isaac Bird — Presbyterian Board of Publica- tion, 1872. Missions to the Oriental Churches, Rev, R. Anderson — Boston, 1872. Missionary Herald — 18 19-1870 in loco. The Foreign Missionary — Church at Home and Abroad — 1870- 1908. Assembly Herald — Science and Missions, T. Laurie — A. B. C. F. M., Boston, 1882. Churchill's Druses and Maronites — Quaritch, London, 1862. Forty Years in the Turkish Empire — W. Goodell, Carter's, 1876. Among the Turks, C. Hamlin — Carter's, 1878. Religions of Syria, J. Wortabet — Nisbit & Co., i860. Martyr of Lebanon, Rev. L Bird — American Tract Society, 1864. The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, C. E. D. Black — Hutchinson & Co., London. Life and Letters of Rev. D. Temple, D. H. Temple — Boston, 1855. Kamil, H. H. Jessup — Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1899. Encyclopedia of Missions — Funk & Wagnalls, 1904. Modern Egypt, Lord Cromer — London, 1908. The Emancipation of Woman in Egypt (Arabic) by Kasim Beg Amin, Judge in Cairo, Egypt. The New Woman (Arabic) by the same author. Dr. Michaiel Meshaka's " Mashhadul Aiyan," (Arabic). A history of his life and times from 1820 to 1873 — Helal Press, Cairo. 80X Appendix III (a) List of American Medical Missionaries in the Syria Mission, 1 833- 1909 Name Location Time 0/ Arrival Death Length of Service I Asa Dodge, M. D. Jerusalem Feb. 24, Jan. 28, I yr., II mos.. 1833 1835 4 days 2 Cornelius V. A. Van Beirut April 12, Nov. 13, 56 yrs., 7 mos., Dyck, M. D„ D. D,, Jerusaleni 1839 1895 II days L. H. D. Abeih Station, Beirut 3 Henry A. DeFor- Beirut Mar. 23, Nov. 24, 12 yrs., I mo,, est, M. D. 1842 1858, in Rochester, N.Y. 15 days 4 George E. Post, M.D,, Tripoli Nov. 28, Sept. 29, 4 years in D. D. S., LL. D. Beirut 1863 1909 Mission, 42 years in College 5, Galen B. Danforth, Tripoli Nov, 9, July 9. 3 years. M.D. 1871 1875 8 months 6 Chas. Wm. Calhoun, Tripoli July, 1879 June 22, 3 years. M.D. 1883 II months 7 Ira Harris, M. D. Tripoli Dec. 18, 1883 8 Mary Pierson Eddy, Sidon Dec. 23, M.D, Ma'amiltein Shebaniyeh 1893 9 Ara Elsie Harris.M. D. Tripoli Aug. 24, 1908 (6) Other Medical Agencies in Palestine and Syria ACRE.— Church Missionary Society. Hospital and Dispensary. Rev. S. Gould, M. D. ALEPPO Presbyterian Church of England's Mission to the Jews. Dispensary. Dr. Charles C, Piper, ANTILYAS.— Dispensary. Dr. B. J. Manasseh. ANTIOCH.— Reformed Presbyterian Mission of Ireland and Scotland. Rev, James Martin, M.A., M.D., M. Ch. 3o3 Appendix III 803 ASFURIYEH. — Near Beirut, Lebanon Asylum for the Insane. Dr. H. Watson Smith. BETHLEHEM Swedish Society. Dr. Ribbing. BAAKLEEN. — Lebanon and Palestine Nurses' Mission. Cottage Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. Alameddin. BEIRUT. — Hospital. Knights of the Johanniter Order of Germany and Deacon- esses of Kaiserswerth. Rev. G. E. Post, M. D., D. D. S., LL. D. ; Dr. Harris Graham ; Dr. W. B. Adams, M. A. ; Rev. C. A. Webster, M. D. ; Dr. Franklin T. Moore, M. A. ; Dr. Harry G. Dorman, Syrian Protestant College Hospitals, Women's Hospital, Dr. Franklin T. Moore. Children's Hospital, Dr. H. G. Dorman. Eye and Ear Hospital, Dr. C. A. Webster. Training-School for Nurses, Mrs. Gerald F. Dale, and Miss J. E. Van Zandt. BRUMMANA. — Friends' Foreign Mission Association. Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. A. J. Manasseh. DAMASCUS. — Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society. Victoria Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. F. Mackinnon ; Dr. Turnbull. DEIR ATEEYEH.— Danish Orient Mission. Dr. Fox-Maule. GAZA. — Church Missionary Society. Hospital and Dispensary. Rev, R. B. Ster- ling, M. D. ; Dr. P. Brigstocke. HAIFA. — Jerusalem and the East Mission. Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. Donald Coles. HEBRON.— United Free Church of Scotland Palestine Jewish Mission. Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. A. Paterson. IM EL FAHM. — Palestine Village Mission and Medical Work. JAFFA. — Church Missionary Society Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. Melville Keith. Dr. Fuleihan. JERUSALEM. — The London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, Hospital and two Dispensaries, Dispensary at Siloam. Dr. P. D'erf Wheeler ; Dr. E. W. G. Masterman ; Dr. Maxwell. Moravian Leper Asylum. Jesus Hilf House. Ophthalmic Hospital. English Knights of St. John. Dr. Cant. Hospital and Dispensary. Knights of the Johanniter Order of Germany and Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth. Dr, Grussdorf, •■ KERAK, — Church Missionary Society, Dr, F. Johnson. LATAKIA. — Reformed Presbyterian Church of America. Hospital and Dis- pensary. Dr. J. M. Balph. LYDDA English Dispensary. Dr. H, Salim. NAB LUS.— Church Missionary Society. Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. G. R. M. Wright ; Dr, Griffiths. 8o4 Appendix III NAZARETH. — Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society. Dispensary, Dr. F. J. Scrimgeour. SAFED. — United Free Church of Scotland Mission. Dispensary. Dr. G. "Wilson. London Society for Promotion of Christianity amongst the Jews. Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. W. H. Anderson. ES SALT. — Church Missionary Society Hospital. Dr. N. Kawar. TIBERIAS. — United Free Church of Scotland Mission. Hospital and Dispensary. Rev. D. Torrance, M. D. (c) Medical Mission Work of the American Presbyterian Mission in Syria, 1Q09 TRIPOLI.— Dr. Ira Harris and Miss Ara Elsie Harris, M. D, Hospital and Dis- pensary in the Meena. SHWEIR, MOUNT LEBANON.— Rev. Wm. Carslaw, M. D., and Dr. Haddad. Dispensary. MA'AMILTEIN.— Miss Mary Pierson Eddy, M. D., Wallace Ophthalmic Hospital and Dispensary. Dr. Eddy has also oversight of an independent summer Sana- torium for Consumptives at Shebaniyeh, and a projected winter home near Ma'amiltein. Appendix IV 1903. List of Mission Schools of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in Vilayets of Beirut and Damascus V Permanent Town Common School unless indicated Date of Establish- ment Buildings owned by Americans. When erected Vilayet Beirut I Boys' school 1841 Beirut « I Girls' school 1833 « M I Girls' Boarding- school 1845 1866 " « Syrian Protestant College 1866 I 870- I 909 « M Theological Semi- nary 1862 « Belat I 1858 " Deir Mimas 2 1861 1864 i( Ibl es Saki I 1852 1866 « Judaideh 4 ( I High School) 1851 1873 4< Khirbeh I 1865 <( Khiyam I 1852 1864 U Quleiaah I 1858 « Safad el Buttikh I 1885 « Abra I 1866 « Jubaa Halawi I 1866 « Qureiyyeh I 1885 « Mughdusheh I 1882 1903 « Maamariyeh I 1888 « Miyeh wa Miyeh I 1880 1890 « Mujeidil I 1885 « Sidon I Boys' school 1852 1864 (f « Seminary for girls 1876 1875 « « Gerard Institute (boys) 1882, 1909 « « Dar es Salaam Or- phanage (boys) Common school for 1900 « « 1852 « girls Alma I 1850 1858 « Qana I 1850 1864 M Tibnin I 1857 « Tyre 2 1853 (4 PiW I 1880 (< 805 8o6 Appendix IV Permanent Town Common School unless indicated Date of Establish- ment Buildings cnvtied by Americans. When erected Vilayet Safed I i88o Beirut Bussah I i88o Tripoli Girls' boarding- school 1873 1876 « « Boys' boarding- school 1900 « « Boys' day-school 1854 « 6oet seq. Prussian deaconesses, 230 Quarantine, 106, 614 Quilliam, the English pseudo Moslem, S77 ^t seq. Railroad, 1892, 585 Ramadan, the Moslem fast, 400 ; which sunset turns into feast, 401 Relics — see Superstitions Religion in Syria, its many forms, 27 ; its formal character, 27 Religious liberty, from Moslem stand- point, 267, 380 Retrenchment, 237 ; work jeopardized, 239 Revolution of 1908 — see Turkish Gov- ernment Riggs, Elias, 51 Riggs party tour, 698 Riley, Henry A., author's pastor in childhood, his heirs' gift, 728 Roads, 117, 118 Robert College, compared with Syrian Protestant College, 737 830 Index Robertson, Rev, J., D. D., first mission- ary under Beirut Jewish Mission, 277 ; becomes chaplain of Anglo-American congregation, 293 Robinson, Edward, D. D., 26, 52 Robinson, Charles S., D. D., 364, 369, 381, 646; his great work in hymnol- ogy, 678 Romance of Ezekiel the Jew, 560 Roosevelt, Theodore, Sr. and Jr., visit to Beirut, 407 ; the donkey, 730 Russian religious efifort, 660 Russo-Turkish War, 450, 452, 453 Rustum Pasha, 121 ; ablest governor, 397 ; friendship with Mr. Dale, 398 ; Dr. Post wins his help for the col- lege, 399 Saad, Tannus, native preacher, 777, 782 Saadeh, Elias, 113, 144; death, 711 Sabbath observance, 332, 395 ; English disregard of, in Egypt, 665 Sabony, Saleh (rough h. ), 144, 145, 412 Said Pasha, 264 Saladin's tomb, 654, 655 Sarkis, Ibrahim, 402 Sarkis, Khalil, editor, 741 Sarroof, Dr., 109 Schaff, Philip, D. D., visits Beirut, 451 ; his Latin address, 451 Schauffler, W. T., 51 Schools, use of English, 95, 223 ; put on pay basis, 249 ; stand test of public examinations, 333 ; government inter- ference, 436, 533, 543 ; individual ap- preciation of, 668; revivals in, 710; irade of immunity, 778 ; De Forest School for Girls, 95 ; Abeih Seminary, 98, 107, 235 — closed, 237, 453 — reor- ganized, 448 ; Hamath (girls), 426 ; Suk el Gharb, strengthens the local church, 504 — boys, 508 — account of, 520; Sidon, girls, 241, 448, 510 — boys, 508 — Industrial, see Gerard In- stitute ; Tripoli, 404 — property for girls' school, 430 — growth, 433 — his- tory, 508 ^^ j^i/. ; Shweir, 508; Beirut Female Seminary, 222 et seq. — my in- terest in its establishment, 280 — funds come in, 295 — success at last, 310; demand for, in i860, 219 ; British Syrian, 227 — author's rela«tion to, 454, 474 — assume the Shemlan work, 682; Mrs. Watson's, 231, 270, 682; Mos- lem, 221 ; Church of Scotland, 231 ; Miss Taylor's, 231; Druse, 244; Lebanon, or " Sulleeba," conference concerning with Scotch committee, 383. For statistics see Appendix, 805 et seq. Secretaries of Foreign Board, 377 and note ; value of their visiting missions, 675-676 Scranton, its Christian men, 340; gives the bell for Beirut, 340 Shaftesbury, Earl of, 47 Shaw, John Balcom, D. D., visit to Bei- rut, 691 Shazaliyeh (sect), 538 Shekkoor, Hanna, 254 Shepard, Elliott F., tour with, 497 ; his liberality, 498, 752 Shidiak, Asaad, the martyr, 29, 35, 40, 43, 49, 183, 353; Sir Arthur Cotton's letter, 681 Sidon, 743 et seq. ; the work there, 744 Sketching, native superstition, 35 Smair, Sheikh Mohammed, 92 Smith, Eli, 17, 22, 23 ; his life and work, 5 1 et seq. ; Bible translation, 70; death, 108, 146; the Gilman memorial, 56, 553 Smith, Henry B., visit to Beirut, 381 Snakes, 116, 327, 380, 746; as a means of grace, 379 Snow, 21 Soleyman Effendi, 255 Spanish War, 646 Stanley, Dean, 247, 248 Stead, Wm.'T., his erroneous estimate of missions, 667 Straus, Oscar, protects American rights, 533; visits Beirut, 534; his influence, 644 St. Paul's Institute at Tarsus, 534,*7io, 754 Stuart, Archibald, his early death, 627 Suez Canal, 276 Sultans : Abdul Medjid, 234 ; Abdul Aziz, 234, 332; Abdul Hamid II, 449, 781 ; Mohammed V, 794 Sunnin (Mount), 21 Sunstroke, 96 Superstitions, three hairs of Mohammed, 245 ; one of his shoes found, 425 Syria, its condition in 1856, 27 ; after the massacre of i860, 216-221 ; first telegraph, 265 ; geology in, 62, 123 et seq.; storms, 128, 131, 241, 265, 435' 572-573. 612, 682; its people, their attractive traits, 689 Index 831 Syria Mission, its state in 1856, 20 et seq. ; isolation of missionaries a failure, 24 ; language examination, 115; statistics for 1857, 153; seven stations occupied by 1859, 156; con- dition at time of massacre, 176; i860 a critical year, 215 ; results then ac- complished, 216^/ seq,; its state at end of 1862, 254; at end of 1863, 272; decides to build Beirut church, 293 ; corner-stone laid, 330 ; the bell, 331, 410; dedication of church, 1869, 346; outlook, 1869, 358-359; the critical year of transfer, yj^et seq. ; jubilee week, November, 1873, 401 ; reinforced, 403 ; condition thereupon, 405; reinforced in 1879, 460 ; or- ganizes presbyteries, 470; comity with other missions, 474 ; personnel in 1884, 495 ; need of reinforcement in 1892, 587 ; policy as to manses, 624, 743; the twenty-five per cent, cut of 1897,630; missionaries asked to contribute, 631 ; statistics for 1897, 641 ; religious forces at work in 1898, (it)(>et seq.; progress in 1904, 752; statistics for 1900, 694 — see Appen- dix, 809, 814 I?/ seq. Syrian Protestants, in 1856, 25 ; de- mand a native church, 82, 91 ; number in 1862, 242; systematic beneficence, 243 ; missionary giving, 266; itinerating, 272; conversions slow, 275 Syrian Protestant College, the first sug- gestion, 239; the mission vote, 24 x ; Daniel Bliss set apart, 242; framing by-laws, 274, Chap. XIII, p. 298 et seq. ; its first faculty, 304 ; model of, by author, awarded gold medal at St. Louis, 306; trustees' meeting in New York, 339; attendance in 1873, 405 ; faculty in 1884, 496; attendance in 1898, 652; attendance in 1900, 694; original pledge to Christianity, 707 ; board of managers dissolves, 709 ; the rebellion vs. college chapel, 787 — see Appendix, 8i6ei seq. Taxation, for roads, 118 Taylor, Jessie, schools, 232-315, 72I; her death and work, 763 Temperance reading-room, founded by Mrs. Jessup, 685 Temple, Daniel, 47 Tenny, Mary E., 19 Theological instruction, 345 ; first class, 346 ; faculty, 346 ; various instruct- ors, 346; division of subjects, 348 request in 1870 for endowment, 385 faculty in 1879, 463; building be gun, 470; building dedicated, 488 faculty in 1884,496; six graduates in 1888, 531 ; faculty in 1894, 605 building sold to college, 624; sixty trained by 1898, 653 ; as a summer school, 664 ; five graduates in 1900, 686; six graduates in 1 90 1, 716 Thompson, Mrs. J. Bowen, founder of British Syrian Schools, 227 ; death of, 349 ; her work, 349 Thomson, Emilia, 49, 64, 222, 450 Thomson, Henry E., business manager, 292 Thomson, William M., D. D., 17, 22, 26; his life and work, 57 ^^ seq.; touring Palestine, 146 ; visit to Egypt, 275; resignation, 450; death, 603 Tolles, Miss, 222 Translation (see Bible) ; its difficulty, 66 ; Luther's opinion, 67 ; the com- mittee of 1847, 68; Van Dyck's ac- count, 69 ; list of " helps," 7 1 et seq. ; method of work, 74, 75 ; celebrating its completion, 76, 282 Tripoli, my life while stationed there, iiZet seq., 143; Great Mosque, 143 Trinity, an obstacle to Moslem conver- sion, 90, 144 Tristram, H. E. (Canon of Durham), visit to Palestine, 273 ; other visits, 277, 470, 625 ; author visits him, 281, 474; friendship of, 626 Trowbridge, Tillman C, 19 Turkish Government, revolution of 1876, 448; constitution proclaimed, 449; republished, 781 ; the bloodless revo- lution of July 23, 1908, 785 ; eff"ects of, 786; attitude of people after, 786 attitude of Moslem religious leaders, 787; effect on the college, 787; Par liament, 788; its make-up, 789; re ligious future of empire, 790 ; Pan- Islamism, 791 ; relation to press, 433 military control of country, 438, 624 hostility to foreign work, 438, 621 hostility to mission schools, 503, 740 hostility to , Bible, 504 ; irade evicting missionaries, 619; Sir Philip Currie thwarts it, 620 " Twain, Mark," visits Beirut, 335 832 Index Van Dyck, C. V. A., 22, 23 ; his mar- riage, 49 ft., 107 ; Bible translation, 69, 71, 73, 95 ; his life and work, 104 et seq. ; his jubilee, 109, 549; his modesty, 109 ; his tomb, i ii ; his de- gree of L. H. D., 585 ; dies of typhoid, 613; marble bust presented by na- tives, 666 ; his services to Greek Hos- pital, 667 Venus, transit of 1874, 439; reflections suggested by, 440 Vidoria-Cattiperdoivn disaster, 598 et seq. Von Tassel, plan for Bedawin conversion, Waldmeier, Theophilus, founder of the insane hospital, t^zi et seq. Wassa Pasha, attitude towards mission, 532; death, 585 Watson, Mrs. E. H., schools, 231, 270 Webb, Mohammed, his revamped Mo- hammedanism, 602 West, Robert H., college astronomer, 775 West, Sarah E., 19 Whales in Mediterranean, 474 Whiting, George B., 23 William III of Germany, visits Beirut, 653; decorates Dr. Post, 230, 630 ; his tour and doings, 653 f/ seq. ; effect of, 656 ; effect of on rain supply, 656 ; analyzed, 662 Wilson, D. M., 17, 22, 23, 24, 149, 176; death, 528 Woman, her condition under Islam, 27 ; degradation, 28 ; the curtain of sepa- ration in church, 151 ; in relation to education, 224 ; can be reached by woman, 229 ; singing in church, 252; church curtain of separation, 347 ; emancipation of, an epochal book, 700 Wood, Mrs. George, her interest in and gifts to industrial work, 516^^ seq., 770; gives the orphanage at Sidon, 653 Wood, Frank, decides to go to Syria, 342 ; transferred to Sidon, 435 ; death, 453 Worcester, D. D., farewell instructionsto Fisk, 29 Wortabet, Gregory, an Armenian priest, his conversion, 49 Wortabet, John, M. D., his son,'49 ; ap- pointed to medical staff of Syrian Protestant College, 303 ; declines na- tive pastorate, 345 ; death, 781 ; esti- mate of, 781 Wukf, the law of religious entail, 677 Yale Bicentennial, 705 Yanni, Antonius, 112, 115; his gift for United States soldiers, 281, 391 ; sketch of his life, 386 et seq. Yazigy (Yozzijee), Sheikh Nasif, Arab scholar and poet, 55 ; Bible transla- tion, 70 ; teaches Dr.jVan Dyck, 106 ; his funeral, 409 Y. M. C. A., its need in fighting drunk- enness, 685 Yusef el Haddad (Abu Selim), 98, 113 Yusef el Azir (the Mufti), 106, 145 Yusef Bedr, 244 Zahleh (middle h. rough), Dodds' at- tempt to enter it in 1858, 154; Benton's attempt in 1859, 154; battle of, 185; an attractive field, 235 ; excitement at Moosa Ata's death, 416^/ j^^. / occu- pied 1872 by Mr. Dale, 427 ; Mr. March joins him, 1873, 427 ; Hoskins stationed there in 1888, 503; Wm. Jessup joins, 569; manse built, 624 Date Due